This month marks the 90^th Anniversary of women’s suffrage in the United States and it’s looking more and more like time for another Suffrage Parade.

In 1913, Alice Paul and friends organized the Suffrage Parade in Washington, DC. They were frustrated by slow, incremental progress in their fight to win the vote. On March 3, more than 5,000 suffragists hit the streets in support of a woman’s right to vote. The Suffrage Parade was timed to coincide with Woodrow Wilson’s Presidential inauguration. The suffragists wanted to send a clear message—they would hold Wilson accountable for women’s suffrage.

Of course, there were many mainstream supporters of women’s suffrage who discouraged demonstrations like the Suffrage Parade. These supporters clung to incremental change, believing that state by state, women would gain the right to vote. They didn’t want to rock the boat and, of course, they didn’t want to risk offending their friends in power.

More than ninety years later and we’re still having the same debate. How much rocking do we do when our friends are captaining the boat? If this last year is any measure, it’s time we start moving.

During the knock down, drag out fight for healthcare reform in this country, abortion was the only medical procedure purposefully carved out. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, as the bill was ultimately named, marginalizes abortion care by forcing women who want a comprehensive health plan to write a separate check for abortion coverage.  In addition to signing new restrictions into law through healthcare reform, President Obama issued an Executive Order immediately following the bill signing that would keep in place all existing federal funding restrictions on abortion.

If this weren’t enough, in July 2010, the President took the proactive step of issuing an abortion coverage ban in the newly created Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plans or high-risk pools. Part of healthcare reform, these plans are intended to insure those with pre-existing conditions by pooling them together to lessen the total cost of coverage. This means the most medically vulnerable women with pre-existing conditions like breast cancer or diabetes will not have access to comprehensive health care. These are the very women most likely to face health challenges related to a pregnancy. They deserve comprehensive care that includes abortion.

As bad as it all sounds, there were definite victories for women in healthcare reform. For many women, being able to cover their children until they reach the age of 26 is an immediate gain. Doing away with denying children health coverage because of pre-existing conditions is another win for mothers. Protecting access to essential community health care providers, many of whom are trusted and used primarily by women, was also a good thing.

Another potentially huge win for women was nestled inside the health care bill. The Women’s Health Act, an amendment offered successfully by Senator Mikulski (D, Maryland), requires that health plans cover at no or low cost comprehensive care and screenings that address women’s unique healthcare needs. The example given on the senate floor was breast cancer, which, of course, is not unique to women.

After passage of the bill, the administration released regulations stating that Pap smears would qualify for coverage under the Women’s Health Act. Birth control, a uniquely female item for the most part, was not mentioned. Instead, an advisory panel has been created and instructed to decide if contraception should be considered preventive care.

It’s tempting to suggest that the Federal government ask for assistance from the roughly 98% of women in the United States who will use birth control at some point in their lifetime. Likely, the majority of these women would say they used birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies, a condition unique to women.

But now we await a panel of experts to tell us that birth control is prevention and thus applicable for no or low cost coverage under the Women’s Health Act.

Sixty-five percent of unmarried women voted for Obama in Election 2008. Fifty-seven percent of the pro-Obama vote came from women. Having birth control declared preventive sounds very much like incremental change.

It may have taken a while but Alice Paul and her friends did hold Woodrow Wilson accountable for suffrage. He was President when women won the vote.

It took 144 years after the founding of this country before women—representing more than half the population and having birthed the other half—won the right to vote. We can accept incremental change or maybe, just maybe, it’s time to organize the next Suffrage Parade.

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