The events planned to mark the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade have one main thing in common: They focus on abortion. In protesting Roe this year, March for Life celebrated a record low abortion rate, proclaiming that “love saves lives.” California lawmakers introduced a resolution last year describing Roe as “the cornerstone of women’s ability to control their reproductive lives.”

But as the nation again considers the legacy of the country’s best-known Supreme Court decision, issued on Jan. 22, 1973, we have mostly forgotten part of the story of Roe v. Wade — one almost entirely disconnected from abortion. In the 1970s and beyond, Americans used Roe to answer much larger questions: What does the right to privacy mean, and who can claim that right?

Because we so often identify Roe with a woman’s right to choose, we forget that the original decision attracted the ire of feminists who believed that the court had focused too little on women’s interests in fertility control. The court held that the right to privacy was broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision, with her doctor, to terminate her pregnancy. The justices also reasoned that the government’s interest in protecting fetal life did not become compelling until the point of viability.

But why wield the court’s decision as a weapon for social change? Most scholars agreed that Roe was a poorly reasoned opinion. What was the appeal for grass-roots activists?