In
the 1960s, I waited anxiously in a seedy New York City hotel lobby
for my friend having The Procedure upstairs. Two decades later in the
Pacific Northwest, despite abortion becoming legal, I regularly faced
down right-wing louts jeering at abortion clinic patients.
Fighting
for abortion has been a generations-long battle. It was legalized in
Washington state in 1970, three years before Roe
v. Wade.
A key role was played by Black women from anti-poverty programs who
worked with Seattle Radical Women members in a militant coalition
named Abortion Action Now. High-volume, multiracial organizing
pressured a conservative legislature to put legalization to a public
vote and it passed decisively. Massive speak-outs, rallies and
grass-roots organizing won this crucial right nationally.
And
now we need to do it again because Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito
has taken aim at the 14th Amendment, enacted to protect newly freed
slaves, and the basis for such rights as birth control and LGBTQ+ and
interracial marriage. Banning abortion will especially harm Black,
Latinx, and poor people, including non-binary and transgender folks.
Spread
the word.
Voting and donating to the devious Democrats will not secure
reproductive justice. Tell your friends and coworkers it’s time
to give up this illusion. The Democrats aren’t waging a serious
fight, but they do use threats to women’s rights to mine for
money and votes.
I
recently received an email from Washington state Democratic Senator
Patty Murray saying the Senate had failed
to pass a bill that would have made Roe
v. Wade
law, but, hey, can you chip in $5 to elect pro-choice candidates?
Contrast this ho-hum attitude to the response when protesters on May
9 shouted “Abort the court!” outside of Alito’s
house and a bipartisan
bill was immediately proposed to increase security for the justices.
The
Democrats must put up or shut up. President Biden, sign an Executive
Order making abortion the law! Pro-choice politicians, get off your
duffs and sit in at the Supreme Court (if you can climb over the new
security fence). Call for a march on Washington. Act or get out of
the way!
Stop
the ultra-right with a feminist left.
Attacks on abortion, contraception, trans and LGBTQ+ rights, voting
access, civil rights, and Critical Race Theory are all coming from
right-wing white supremacists. SCOTUS is controlled by a far-right,
religious ideology and is an undemocratic institution.
Who’s
behind the rightward turning court and legislature? The U.S. ruling
class. Thirteen major corporations — Coca-Cola, General Motors,
AT&T, Comcast, Walmart, CVS, Amazon, Verizon, Walgreens, Google,
Wells Fargo, Team Mobile, Citibank — while publicly claiming
dedication to equality and women’s rights, have donated $15
million to anti-abortion politicians since 2016.
We
need a multi-issue fight led by the most oppressed. Union leaders
must step up, following the will of members, to represent women of
all colors and workers of all genders. Abortion is a labor issue, a
human right and essential healthcare.
Action
now.
“There will be hell to pay. It’s up to us,”
declared Helen Gilbert, Radical Women Organizer at a rambunctious
Seattle rally following Alito’s leaked draft decision.
How
can you turn your anger into action? Get connected with a group like
the National Mobilization for Reproductive Justice
(ReproJusticeNow.org),
which Radical Women launched two years ago. This grass-roots campaign
raises demands that show how reproductive justice is a multi-faceted
need that affects many communities. In addition to abortion, they
demand stopping forced sterilization; an end to caged kids and child
welfare abuses; universal non-racist healthcare; defense of queer and
trans families; sex education and affordable childcare; sexual
self-determination for people with disabilities; and expanded voting
rights and strong unions to uphold social progress.
Abortion
won’t be free from threat without this kind of broad approach
that embraces every movement. In addition, U.S. feminists can look to
the Southern Hemisphere for strategies.
Argentine
activists won legal abortion on December 30, 2020, after decades of
work.
They
succeeded through grass-roots organizing that was linked to campaigns
against femicide. Feminists held mass protests in the streets and
educated the general public about the estimated 371,965 to 522,000
Argentineans who risked their lives each year through illegal
abortions.
Argentina’s
“green wave,” referring to the green bandannas displayed
by supporters of legal abortion, is sweeping Latin America. On June
30, 2021, the state of Hidalgo in Mexico lifted penalties for
elective abortion, joining Oaxaca and Mexico City in confirming the
right to choose.
No
more playing nice.
Let’s take the gloves off! We need national, massive civil
disobedience. Rise up against the treacherous fakers who keep
demanding our votes and our cash. Organize statewide and nationally
to demand our rights. Unjust laws will be broken!
With
anger forged into united, multi-racial working-class action, we can
turn the court or overturn the government. We won’t go back!
This
commentary is also posted on FSP
Freedom Socialist Party.
