N.Y. pro-choice activists defy right-wing offensive

Scan page 6

BELLE KENNEDY

Abortion is the front line and bottom line of women's civil and constitutional rights. Abortion is the front line and bottom line of the women's movement. We have drawn that line. We will hold and defend it."

With these words, pro-choice activist Merle Hoffman kicked off Reproductive Freedom Week in New York City. The week was called to defend area abortion clinics against a nationally organized offensive dubbed "Operation Rescue."

Operation Rescue represents a new turn in the right's continuing holy war against legalized abortion. Anti-abortionists are now emboldened by the possibility that a new majority on the Supreme Court could From throughout the Midwest and East Coast, chartered buses brought thousands of trade union members and their families to Washington, D.C., for the May 14 American Family Celebration sponsored by the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW). Over 150 buses came from New York City alone.

Large helium-filled balloons announced the location of contingents from the Communication Workers of America, International Ladies Garment Workers Union, International Union of Electrical Workers, Office and Professional Employees International Union, United Food and Commercial Workers Union, and United Steelworkers of America.

Other sizable contingents came from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees; Hospital Workers Local 1199; International Association of Machinists; Service Employees International Union; and United Auto Workers.

The rally received considerable publicity in national and local labor publications. The presidents of some 20 international unions attended, and AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland was one of the featured speakers. Most participants came on unionsponsored transportation. However, despite this official backing, only minimal effort was put into organizing attendance.

When CLUW first announced plans for this rally, it was billed as an event on the order of Solidarity Day in 1981, which was attended by hundreds of thousands of union members. In the days immediately preceding the event, CLUW spokespersons predicted crowds of 70,000 to 80,000. Yet, actual attendance was much smaller; the crowd was estimated at 20,000 or less.

Speaking for "the family"

Publicity for the rally stated that its purpose was to demand "government action now to establish a national family policy," including, "family and medical leave, quareverse Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court decision that legalized abortion.

Seeking to develop a new "peaceful" image, the right wing of the anti-abortion movement called upon thousands of its followers to come to New York to shut down abortion clinics through "prayerful" blockades. Their stated goal was to spark a "massive uprising that [would] dominate the '88 political arena" and that would "make child-killing illegal again."

The New York pro-choice community did not wait for the arrival of the "Rescuers" to fight back. The three-year-old Pro-Choice Coalition called for a march and rally on April 29. The turnout, estimated by organizers at between 1500 and 2000, was the largest New York pro-choice demonstration in a decade.

Unfortunately, NARAL, and Planned Parenthood ("Project Defend") —focused not on mobilizing against the anti-abortionists but on escorting women into the clinics, relying on police assurances that they would be kept open.

Cops "lend a hand"

Unsurprisingly, the N.Y.P.D. turned out to be the best friend Operation Rescue had. Police inaction and cooperation enabled the anti-abortionists to shut down targeted abortion facilities on Monday and Tuesday, May 2 and 3, and to halt most morning business at their targets on Thursday and Friday, May 5 and 6.

On Monday, nearly 600 anti-abortionists blocked the entrance to a doctor's office. The cops initially did nothing, then began to remove protesters one by one on They only looked peaceful here because they were backed up by a sympathetic police force-the same cops that have been brutalizing the poor and non-white peoples of New York in record numbers.

We supporters of abortion rights, who represent a clear majority in the United States, must not allow ourselves to be outmaneuvered or out-organized by a fanatical anti-abortion minority. The New York experience has shown that the pro-choice movement cannot rely on the police or the legal system to defend abortion rights.

Only a powerful united front-representing all pro-choice forces-can effectively mobilize the thousands necessary to defend abortion rights before any future "rescue missions" are even attempted.

Such a movement can work to extend the constitutional right to abortion-pushing further to secure the right to free, safe abortions on demand; adequate state-provided medical care for all; and an end to forced sterilizations.

When Operation Rescue descends upon Philadelphia on July 4 and upon Chicago later this summer, the pro-choice movement must be there to defeat them.