WASHINGTON -- We lost the war on women, ever since the days of groovy Gloria Steinem as the leader of a mass social movement.

Steinem is still groovy in her 80s, but there’s no succession on passing the torch. It’s now clear how much ground the next generation gave up.

My generation took much for granted as settled law and failed to advance on any fronts at all.

We forgot Abigail Adams’ famed plea to husband John to “Remember the Ladies” in the Declaration of Independence was ignored and roundly ridiculed -- by him.

Last June’s blow struck us hard in the face: The Supreme Court ruled that reproductive rights are no longer the law of the land.

Back under the states’ thumbs we go. That was a death knell to a destiny of one’s own. (Thanks, Virginia Woolf!)

In retrospect, speaking of our “choice” instead of “right” was the first mistake. Take-no-prisoners Republican politics is no respecter of choice, believe me. There are few, if any, “pro-choice” Republican men in Congress.

Hear this: the Supreme Court never stripped established human rights away from American citizens until now.

The starry-eyed saying that American democracy keeps expanding freedom is under challenge and contradiction.

We took the whole thing meekly and mildly after a few days of protest at the foot of the extreme John Roberts court.

Former President Donald Trump’s evil deeds will live long after him, especially his three Supreme Court nominees who expressly stole reproductive freedom away from American women and girls.

In a chilling result, OBGYN doctors fear minefields, even criminal prosecution.

Now female victims of rape or incest can’t access medical care after early pregnancy in several Southern states, like Arkansas, Alabama and Louisiana.

Texas, which was the largest Confederate slave state, is also returning to its repressive roots. “Conservative” is too good a word.

Our second strategy mistake in the battle of words was to talk about our “bodies” and health care. No. That’s precisely the rub, that Republican foes think and treat us purely in biological terms. They want to control our bodies.

We must never be bound by biology in the political conversation.

Women need a shining paradigm for reclaiming our unalienable human rights and what’s better than life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

Women and girls deserve equal autonomy to govern their personal lives as men and boys. Period, full stop.

The “pro-life” movement killed us on language every time, starting with its name, which the press adopted. They repeated phrases like “the life of the mother” when a girl or woman in question was not a mother.

In Congress, you hear about babies -- or the “unborn” -- when referring to fetuses inside the womb. This swayed the public mind over time.

A precious baby lives and breathes on her own.

The other side sullied Susan B. Anthony’s proud name and appropriated her legacy to halt the rights of women and girls.

A fierce backlash eroded us, bit by bit. Rush Limbaugh’s radio diatribes were openly hostile to women as he successfully sought to bring more medieval Republicans to power.

We let it go for too long, a crime with a clear punishment: Trump.

If the women’s movement was organized for action before Trump hit the primaries in 2016, then “misogyny” would be more than just a new vocabulary word.

Once Trump’s vile side was exposed, a movement could have mounted a concerted campaign to oust him from the running.

The Women’s March in 2017 was energized, but like the proverbial barn door.

One of the last steps forward for us was President Bill Clinton’s Family and Medical Leave Act. My friends used maternity leave from the workplace without knowing how lucky they were.

Clinton put it well then: Abortion care should be “safe, legal and rare.” Yet President Barack Obama failed to keep his campaign promise to codify reproductive rights into law.

The heightened attacks on reproductive rights have frozen collective work on other avenues of advancement. And that is intentional.

These are: passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, greater political representation, paid child care and assistance for women “sandwiched” between caring for elderly parents and small children.

Remember this, Ladies: Only we can improve our own shared destiny.

Jamie Stiehm may be reached at JamieStiehm.com. Follow her on Twitter @JamieStiehm. To find out more about Jamie Stiehm and other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit Creators. com.