Once again-for the right to choose

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Socialist Action candidate at ACLU debate Joseph Ryan (second from right), Socialist Action candidate for mayor of San Francisco, speaks with other mayoral candidates at ACLU debate Sept. 22. Ryan has appeared on local radio stations and is scheduled to write a guest column for the S.F. Progress, a widely read local newspaper. Ryan, however, has had to fight for his democratic rights. He is building support against exclusion from the League of Women Voters' debate Oct.14, the S.F. Abortion Rights Calendar Monday, Oct. 5, 1987: Human "billboards" during morning and evening rush hours at commuter off-ramps in San Francisco and the East Bay will publicize support • 6:00 - 8:00 p.m.: A Rosie Jimenez Memorial Reception will be held in memory of the first woman to ACTiON die as a result of the cut-off of public funds for abortion in Texas in 1977. There will be speakers, music, and food at the American Civil Liberties Union Conference Room, 1663 Mission Street, 4th floor, S.F. All Pro• 8:00 p.m.: March from the reception • 8:30 - 9:30 p.m.: Candlelight vigil "in memory of Rosie and all women of color and low income who are Staff: Paul Colvin, Suzanne Forsyth, May May Gong, David victims of racist health policies." All the above events are Kirschner, Hayden Perry, Joe Ryan, Kwame M.A. Somburu, sponsored by The Northern California Pro-Choice Coalition. For more information call (415) 751-0300.

Wednesday, Oct.. 7 and Nov. 11: Planning Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly for meetings to plan and build a public speak-out for abortion $6 per year by Socialist Action Publishing Association, 3435 rights. Planning meetings will be held at 7 p.m. at the Army St., No. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110. Second-class Department Store Employees Union at 1345 Mission St.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Socialist Action, Saturday, Nov. 21: Public Speak-out for Abortion 3435 Army St., No. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110. Rights, 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. at The Women's Building, 3543 RATES: For one year (12 issues)—U.S. 2nd Class: $6, 1st - 18th St., San Francisco. Sponsors: The Northern Class: $9; Canada and Mexico 2nd Class: $9, 1st Class: $12; All other countries 2nd Class: $12, 1st Class: $24. (Canada money California Pro-Choice Coalition and three chapters of the Coalition of Labor Union Women. For more information Signed articles by contributors do not necessarily represent the call (415) 641-0873 or in the East Bay 569-8847. views of Socialist Action. These are expressed in editorials. (dirsnsino Ve.= A "parental-consent" bill has passed through the Assembly and Senate of the California legislature. After Gov. Deukmejian signs it, it will become state law. There is no doubt that the governor will sign it—he has supported this bill from the beginning.

What is "parental consent" and how will it affect teenagers and their families?

The bill says that no teenager under the age of 18 can get an abortion without the consent of at least one of her parents or guardian. If they do not sign consent, then the teenager must go to Juvenile Court and get a judge to grant her the right to an This has nothing to do with being able to afford the cost of an abortion, because whether the young woman can pay or not, she must still get the consent of one of her parents or go through the court system.

Minn. ruling overturned On Aug. 27, the U.S. Court of Appeals struck down a Minnesota ruling that required young women to notify both parents before getting an abortion. (The lower court had specified that it didn't make any difference whether the girl had a father at home or not; she was required to get his consent also.)

It was therefore a shock to see that despite the Minnesota Appeals Court having thrown out for abortion rights.

Choice supporters are welcome.

Building at Civic Center. in San Francisco. 2 SOCIALIST ACTION the law as unconstitutional, the California Senate went ahead and passed its own version of this unjust restriction upon human rights.

It was both the "liberal" and "conservative" capitalist politicians in the California legislature who voted for this criminal law. When the capitalists do not see a "fightback," they demand that their hired guns in the legislature do their dirty work for them. And they do it. He who pays the piper, calls the tune.

But a fightback movemer. which threatens to upset the political stability of the country —like the one that was developing in 1973 which led to the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion-can force the institutions of capitalist rule to bend to this mass pressure.

High rate of suffering Teen pregnancies are at an epidemic level in this country. More than one half of U.S. teenagers are sexually active. Over 1 million teen women become pregnant each year (30,000 of them are under the age of 15). Forty percent of those teens have abortions to terminate their pregnancies, but half-a-million teenagers do not have abortions and choose to keep their children.

Teen mothers' babies have double the risk of dying in their first year because of poor prenatal care and low birth weight. Teen mothers have a high rate of suicide-in fact it is seven times higher than others their own age.

The children of teen agers suffer more from learning disabilities and are more likely to be abused than other children. Three-quarters of teen mothers never complete their education because they do not have access to quality childcare services. This assures these teen mothers and their children a lifetime of poverty and ill-health.

The Alan Guttmacher Institute, a non-profit research center in New York City, did a study of only televised debate of the campaign.

teen pregnancy in 37 countries. According to their findings, the teen-pregnancy rate in the United States is the highest in the developed world.

The teen-pregnancy rate is twice as great as Canada's rate and seven times as great as the Netherland's rate even though American teenagers are no more sexually active than teens in other countries. And while whites have nearly double the rate of British and French teens, Black teens in the United States have a higher rate of pregnancy than whites.

Teens denied information Why do teenagers get pregnant? It's because they are denied access to birth-control information and services. That is the finding of a recent study by Planned Parenthood. Despite the fact that over 60 percent of parents want sex education in our public schools, only 10 percent of the schools have such education.

Large numbers of teenagers think they cannot get pregnant the first time they have sex, or that they cannot get pregnant if they "do it" standing up, or that "it just can't happen to me."

Many teens do not know about the diaphragm or the IUD. In fact, only one in three teenagers uses any contraceptives at all. Teenagers probably know more about the rings of Saturn than they do about birth control and their own bodies.

Would they use birth control if it was available? Yes! At Chicago's Du Sable High School, where nearly one-third of all the female students have become pregnant in recent years, a medical clinic was set up that dispenses free birth-control devices to students.

This has been very effective. In St. Paul, Minn., where the first clinical program was set up in 1973, the number of births to teens fell nearly 50 percent between 1977 and 1984.

The cost in lives The cost of teen pregnancies is enormous; in Illinois it was approximately $853 million in 1986. But the real cost is to the teenagers themselves.

If the "parental-consent" legislation is allowed to stand, it will mean the destruction of the lives of thousands of teenagers. Not only will they be unable to finish their schooling, but very likely they will resort once again to the back-alley abortionist.

In fact, one teenager I talked to recently told me that her girl friend's boy friend gave her an abortion by sticking a long wire into her uterus. This was just a casual conversation, and the young woman, who was just 15 years old, clearly didn't appreciate the deadly risk this entails.

Many more young women will die if this law is allowed to deny them access to a safe, legal abortion. Moreover, medical personnel who give teenagers abortions—according to this lawClosing date:

Editor: ALAN BENJAMIN Asst. Editor: MICHAEL SCHREIBER Business Manager: DON MAHONEY postage is paid at San Francisco, Calif.

orders or checks should be in U.S. dollars.) can end up in jail along with the teenage mother who attempts to get an abortion by lying about her age.

We must answer back!

The rich in this country have built their wealth off the backs of the poor. They have never needed legalized abortion because they can bribe doctors or fly to other countries and get safe abortions for themselves and their daughters.

The rich have the finest education and the best of medical care. It is the poor, the working-class women, who will be dragged deeper into poverty by being forced to bear and support unwanted children-and their children's children.

Women must answer back. We must join together and fight the insane system that is ready to unleash a blood bath against women. We must once again get into the streets in the tens of thousands to defend our hard-won gains.

Like our foremothers who won the vote, or the right to organize unions in the sweat-shops, or public education for our children, we must rally again for ourselves and our children. Remember, the lives we save may be our own. Sept. 28,