From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point.

Roe versus Wade still fighting after all these years.

Hello again, I'm Mormon Alney, and this is To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most.

When the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion 40 years ago today, it may have settled the law,

but it started the most bitter of all the battles in America's ongoing culture war.

It pitted a woman's right to choose against the right of a fetus to live, an issue that divides America.

Polls show a majority still supports legal abortion, but in some states it's harder and harder

to get one.

We'll look at that paradox and update the current strategies of both sides.

On reporter's notebook later on, a child sex abuse cover-up in America's largest Catholic

archdiocese.

First, here's the news.

Music largest Catholic archdiocese. First, here's the news. Listen to KCRW's 24-hour all-news channel. Stream BBC World Service, NPRW and KCRW programs,

continuous coverage and accessible via our smartphone app or online at kCRw.com.

Support for To the Point comes from the members of KCRW and from the Public Radio International Program Fund.

Hello again, we're Manalny back with To The Point. It's 40 years to the day since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a woman has a constitutional right to abortion. We'll look at life before and after Roe v. Wade and update America's most bitter cultural controversy. On reporters' notebook, new evidence shows that the highest Catholic official in Los Angeles, former Archbishop Cardinal Roger Mahoney, knew priests were guilty of first-degree

felonies, but protected them from law enforcement. First, this news update. The first tests of President

Obama's second term are coming soon in both the House and the Senate. Ed O'Keefe is congressional

reporter for the Washington Post. Ed, good to have you on our program. Good to be with you,

and Warren. The Congress tomorrow is going to raise the debt limit, but only for three months. The White House said today that's okay. Well, yeah, they, in principle, believe that it's a good idea, and the Senate amazingly also seems to be going along with it. I say amazingly because, at least in recent years, we haven't seen such kind of sort of quick and easy agreement on this issue. But Republicans are going to kick this into May, essentially,

and allow a few other things to get sorted out, namely the, what to do about those automatic

...