SociAlist ActoN FORUM International Women's Day
1985 1985-03Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 7 →
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WOMENS DAY dom of religion and conscience or discriminates against poor women."
The signers did not take a position on the issue of abortion but merely noted that a diversity of opinion does exist. They cited data compiled by the National Opinion Research Center that indicated that only 11 percent of Catholics surveyed disapprove of abortion under all circumstances.
The ad stated that those Catholics who publicly dissent from "hierarchical statements and explore areas of moral and legal freedom on the abortion question should not be penalized by their religious superiors, church employers, or bishops.
It concluded by calling upon all Catholics to affirm the statement.
Vatican's threats against clergy Within a month the American bishops, at their annual meeting, blasted the signers for saying there are diverse views. And two weeks later the Vatican threatened the clergy and nuns who signed the ad with expulsion from their orders unless they renounced the statement.
Forty of the signatories responded by noting that the approach of the Vatican stifles discussion and creates "the appearance of consensus where none exists."
Everyone expects this controversy to be a protracted fight. The Vatican has not given a deadline for compliance, and the signers of the New York Times ad, who have a variety of opinions on abortion, will be drafting a statement stressing the right of dissent within the Church, which will then be circulated in an effort to elicit wide support.
A group of the initial ad signers plan public hearings on women's issues from a Catholic perspective in Washington, D.C., on March 4-5. At the same time a committee of Catholic bishops, assigned to draft a pastoral letter on women and the church, will be holding closed hearings.
Meanwhile, the National Coalition of American Nuns published a statement that rejects discussions on abortion that include no-or only token-women. It flatly rejects "the attitude which denies personhood to the woman and bestows it on the fetus" and insists that "no woman should be impregnated against her will."
It points out that any criminalization of abortion would leave poor women "to the mercy of amateurs."
Further, it rejects the implication that unwanted pregnancies are the result "either of irresponsibility on the part of (continued on page 8, in “South African women resist apartheid's triple oppression”)
Day of 1985 participation working peo-