Pro-choice activists meet at clinic defense conference

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Renee Chelian from the Northland Family Planning Center in Detroit the hundreds anti-choice picketers who gather almost daily in front of the clinic. "It's surreal that these large demonstrations are seen as 'normal," she said.

Clinic pickets are actually physically dangerous for women seeking abortion. The 80% Majority reported that the rate of complications in abortion procedures increases when there is harassment outside the clinic. Wading through anti-choice fanatics to get into the clinic raises women's blood pressure, which can make the procedure more risky. Also, the shouting and singing distracts doctors from their ability to focus on providing quality care to women.

According to Renee Chelian of the Northland Family Planning Center in Detroit, the anti-choice movement has successfully created a negative image of abortion providers. While 80% of Americans support the right of women to legal abortion, Chelian stated, most Americans think abortion is murder and abortion providers are murderers. Even pro-choice supporters sometimes think of abortion providers as making money off of women's bodies.

This negative image is driving away doctors from the practice of reproductive healthcare, which is creating a crisis for familyplanning clinics in finding trained physicians.

Many medical schools, especially those connected to Catholic hospitals, no longer train students in abortion procedures. One clinic worker attending the conference said she receives calls from medical students asking to train with the clinic, since their schools won't teach them the procedure.

Debate over perspectives

At the last session of the Conference, the participants discussed what should be done to keep the large numbers of clinic defenders active now that the need for clinic defense is in a decline.

Several participants focused on the need to elect "pro-choice" candidates to office, despite an earlier warning from Merle Hoffman of Choices Women's Medical Center, Inc. "There's been a constant chipping away at abortion rights," she said, "and there are no safe harbors in the electorate or anywhere."

A large sentiment also existed for building an independent movement to fight for abortion rights. This sentiment is a natural outgrowth of clinic defense. As women put their bodies on the line to defend abortion rights, they see how the police protect O.R. at the expense of women's rights.

They see how city officials waiver on enforcing legal access to the clinics. They see how politicians change their vote with every public opinion poll on abortion. They gain an instinctual sense of their power and their ability to defend their rights without relying on the cops, the courts, or the corrupt, twocapitalist-party system.

Activists applauded a call for another mass mobilization like the historic April 1989 march in Washington, D.C., which drew 630,000 people. Yearly mobilizations have played a key role in the "Right-to-Life" movement's ability to remain visible and effective. By contrast, the pro-choice movement grew explosively while building the April 1989 march, but has stalled while focusing on the 1990 elections.

While the Conference did not call for any action, it was an important event. It demonstrated the breadth and strength of the clinic defense movement. It confirmed the success of the pro-choice movement and highlighted new battlegrounds in the struggle to keep abortion safe, legal, and accessible.

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Action Dave Shubert/Socialist Action