Minnesotans rally for choice

Scan page 3

... Outmobilize!

the streets majority.

Planning should begin now for the next national mobilization for a woman's right to choose. At the same time, the clinics must remain open. The pro-choice movement must outmobilize Operation Rescue in sufficient numbers to prevent them from blockading any clinic.

What if the Ku Klux Klan surrounded a voting booth in an African-American neighborhood on election day to intimidate Black people from exercising their right to vote? This would be intolerable; any supporter of civil rights would understand the need to remove the Klan immediately.

The struggle at the abortion clinics presents the same challenge. We must outmobilize Operation Rescue and remove them from the The War *** Against 40. 13 Abortion Rights Mail order to: 3435 Army St., Rm.

308, San Francisco, CA 94110. (continued from page give voice to the pro-choice The War on Rights: How to Fight 'Operation Rescue'and the Right to Life' By Carole Seligman Price: $1.00 clinics as swiftly as possible so that the doors are cleared before the patients arrive. As long as a client has to be escorted through crowds of yelling and intimidating anti-woman fanatics, we have not sufficiently defended her rights.

The larger the counterdemonstrations by pro-choice supporters, the more Operation Rescue will become demoralized and the more pressure we exert on the police to remove the terrorists from the clinic doors.

Building broad coalitions

The Supreme Court's hearing of the Webster case and the right-wingers' attacks on the clinics are the immediate threat before us. In order to mobilize the numbers necessary to beat back these attacks, the movement should focus on the single issue of abortion rights. This is the area of broadest agreement among the diverse groups and individuals within the women's rights coalitions. It is also the best means to draw in new forces.

"Keep abortion safe, legal, and accessible" is, and should continue to be, the battle cry of this struggle.

The membership rolls of NOW and all the other pro-choice groups are growing. But the 600,000 who marched in Washington, D.C.—many for the first time ever-showed that many thousands who did not belong to any organization were now joining the pro-choice fight.

To build an effective movement to defend the right to choose, we must involve these new activists in coalitions where their voices can be heard. For this reason, the movement must strive for democratic forms of organization-mass decision-making meetings, open committees, majority rule.

It is widely recognized that the abortionchoice issue is fundamental to the lives of women. Our success in defending the right to abortion now will enable the women's rights movement to grow and win other demands such as passage of the Equal Rights Amendment, childcare, and equal pay. If we fail, not only our rights, but our very lives are in jeopardy.

BRIAN SCHWARTZ

ST. PAUL, Minn.—On May 13, about 7000 demonstrators converged on the Minnesota State Capitol to demand that abortion remain legal in the United States. The rally sent a clear message to both federal and state legislators that Minnesotans will not tolerate an overturn of Roe v. Wade.

Mary Jean Collins of Catholics for Choice urged the demonstrators to defend the abortion clinics from right-wing attack. "If they bring 100 people, let's bring 500 people," she said. "And if they bring 500 people, let's bring open. People. We must keep our clinies Other speakers included Dixie Riley, regional coordinator of NOW, and mayors George Latimer of St. Paul and Don Fraser of Minneapolis. The good weather helped attract both men and women from all over the state.

This demonstration could have an effect on a bill before the the Minnesota legislature allowing physicians and the state to determine whether or not a fetus could be aborted after 20 weeks. It would be legal even if Roe v. Wade were upheld by the Supreme Court.

County workers rally

In a related development, on May 16, the County Board of Hennepin County voted five to two to stop the funding for elective abortions. County employees responded to this decision immediately with a 200-strong protest demonstration at the County Government Center in Minneapolis.

Dixie Riley, Minnesota regional coordinator for NOW, said to the crowd: "Never mind that 1200 Minnesotans went to Washington to rally with 600,000 people to keep Roe v. Wade intact! Never mind that 7000 Minnesotans rallied at the state capitol!

SOCIALIST In'spite of all this, five men have determined that 8000 employees and their dependents will not have the right to choose."

David Peasley, business agent for AFSCME Local 34, pointed out: "What the county board has done is to strip away rights obtained through collective bargaining. Our rights are not a gift from the county. They are an obligation. We will take whatever action we can to stop this illegal act."

The commissioners hope to use the abortion issue as a cover, while setting an important precedent for future employer takebacks. This event showed how the struggles of women and of all workers are fundamentally linked. S.F. clinic victory San Francisco Bay Area pro-choice supporters racked up another victory against Operation Rescue (OR) at the Women's Choice Clinic in Redwood City, Calif., on May 13.

Backed by a pro-choice demonstration of more than 300—which outnumbered OR by a margin of two to oneclinic defenders stopped the right-wingers from blockading the clinic doors by forming a human barricade between them and the clinic doors. At no time did OR gain control of the clinic.

Patients were escorted into the clinic only by surrounding them with 20 pro-choice supporters singing "We Shall Overcome" at the tops of their lungs. Meanwhile, the police stood idly by.

Police refused to enforce a statewide injunction prohibiting OR's "sidewalk counselors" from harassing incoming patients with their "baby killer" taunts and literature.

The Redwood City victory comes on the heels of a victory on April 29, when more than 1000 pro-choice clinic defenders in the Bay Area forced OR to take its blockade to a closed clinic in Sacramento, two hours' drive away.

ACTION

Scan page 4

R UNION Southwestern Virginia and parts of West Virginia have been the scene of a militant strike by members of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA). About 1700 employees of the Clinchfield Coal Co., a subsidiary of the Connecticut-based Pittston Co. conglomerate, have been on strike since April 5.

Pittston, Virginia's biggest coal producer, is the biggest U.S. exporter of the metalLI sebsk OUR KIDS OUR LIVES the U.S. coal industry will have to fold up in the face of foreign competition if the miners don't give in.

The courts have issued injunctions against the miners with heavy fines$20,000 a day—and limits on the number of pickets. [At press date, the total fine was $600,000.] Despite this, the UMWA has continued to exercise its First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly by building mass picket lines. The union has shown it intends to put the rights of its members above the short-term interests of the union treasury.

The strikers' slogan is "as long as it takes." With a union strike fund that pays $200 a week plus health insurance, it will be a tough road for the miners, requiring every bit of solidarity the rest of the labor movement can offer.

----- pull-quotes -----

New pamphlet on women's liberation!