Pennsylvania's challenge to Roe v. Wade

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ACTiON Staff: Alex Chis, Paul Colvin, Gerry Foley, Suzanne Forsyth, Malik Miah, MayMay Gong, Hayden Perry, Barbara Putnam, Kwame M.A. Somburu, Sylvia Weinstein.

Socialist Action (ISSN 0747-4237) is published monthly for $8 per year by Socialist Action Publishing Association, 3435 Army St., No. 308, San Francisco, CA 94110.

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about it. ing the right to have an The Pay differential throughout society (another Roses" said, "The rising of mass murder at the engineer- provide childcare centers, equal pay, or rights to all between women and men puts name for socialism).

And the newspapers report- jobs on an equal basis with billions of dollars in the ed last month that most men? I don't think so. pockets ot the owners of the by women are why an indeWomen, despite the many banks, the tactories, the own- pendent women's movement great things for winning result of domestic violence. gains we have made histon- ers and exploiters of natural has arisen and continues to meaningful reforms that will Husbands, boyfriends and cally (the right to vote, birth resources, and all the great grow, Each new outrage, such benefit women as a whole. other male relatives sent more control, jobs, higher educa- wealth that the workers have as the Thomas confirmation, women to the hospital than tion, etc.), still are treated as created. shows women a new reason encompass even greater numautomobile accidents or any inferior beings in the U.S.A. But the success of the capt- why they need their own bers of people is needed to The pervasive expenence that talists is that they have movement. Each new outrage win the kind of change that Rape is at an all time high. most women have with sexu- convinced a great number of brings new fighters into the will permanently upgrade Do you see a pattern? I do. al harrassment proves it. people who are are also ranks of the women's move- women's status to a truly The status of women in this People who are respected are exploited by them, the men, ment. Only a strong inde- equal partnership with men in country is such that a pletho- not humiliated at home and that they too benefit from pendent women's movement all aspects of life. ra of crimes against women work on a daily basis. But women's lower status. tanging from the most great numbers of women are. The beauty in this arrange- power of women to win movement of the working ment for the capitalists is meaningful changes in our class as a whole women and The only answer that makes that the non-harmonious rela- lives. ment in the workplace, are sense is that somehow, some- tions between men and Demonstrations such as the white; union and unorganized; rising. where, someone materially women in the workplace are a two massive pro-choice young and old.

Can this violence be benefits from the lower status big obstacle to the unity of mobilizations in Washington, divorced from the governmen- of women. The members of the working class in lighting D.C., in 1989 organized by workers that puts the interests tal attacks on women in the the capitalist class are the the boss for better pay and the National Organization for of workers first-especially form of failure to enact an ones that benefit by women's working conditions and ulti- Women are the kinds of the most oppressed—and the Equal Rights Amendment, lower status. They benefit mately for full ownership and acuons we need to win new bosses interests last is what protect reproductive rights, directly and hugely. control of the workplaces rights and to protect ones we socialists advocate.

2 SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 1991 In 1989, the Pennsylvania legislature passed one of the nation's most restrictive anti-abortion laws. It was called the Abortion Control Act of 1989. The most restrictive parts of the act required parental consent for women under the age of 18, prenotification of the husband, pre-abortion counseling, and a 24-hour wait after counseling before having the abortion.

On Oct. 21, 1991, the U.S. Court of Appeals threw out the provision requiring women to notify their husbands, but upheld the other restrictions.

On Oct. 22, State Attorney General Ernest Preate Jr. said he will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to return to the law the section requiring notification of husband. According to informed sources, this appeal will put Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that legalized abortion, on the fast-track toward review by the Supreme Court.

If you're a woman, you've experienced it. Sexual harrassA big teach-in has been going on in the United States. Letters to the editor, radio call-in shows, workplace discussions and debates-all swirling around the issue of sexual harrassout in the open than it has ever been before, the discussion can turn to what the pervasiveness of sexual harrassment reveals about our society and what can be done Let's not skip over the Killeen, Texas, mass murder.

Investigators say that George J. Hennard, the murderer, hated women. Two-thirds of his victims in Luby's cafeteria were women. Wasn't this also the case in the Canadian ing college two years ago?

injuries to women were a other cause extreme, murder, to the most Why?

commonplace, sexual harrassBy Louisiana, Utah and Guam have passed anti-choice laws even more restrictive than Pennsylvania's, but the Pennsylvania law has gone further in the appeals process.

Kathryn Kolbert—the lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union's Reproductive Freedom Project, which argued for the plaintiff, Planned Parenthood of Pennsylvania-said, "For the first time since 1973, a federal court of appeals has directly said that Roe v. Wade is no longer the law of the land."

On Oct. 5 in San Francisco, the Pro-Choice Coalition held a march and rally. Estimates were that over 7000 people marched. The march was organized in two months. It was an unusual march in that a large percentage of marchers were born after Jan 22, 1973, when Roe v. Wade became law.

Many of these young women not only marched, but they took because of serious over organizational tasks such sons. as out-reach, campus organizing, phone-banking, media already died because of the activity and all of the other parental consent restriction. tasks that are required to build a Becky Bell, a 17-year-old high march and rally. school student, could not bear Their energy and optimism to disappoint her parents by added color and numbers to the telling them she was pregnant. march. And their anger kept She died from an illegal aborthem going. They were espe- tion. Spring Adams, a 13cially angry at the parental year-old victim of sexual abuse consent laws which have been by her father (she was raped and passed in 26 states, including impregnated by him), was shot California. The California law and killed by that same father is presently being heard in San when he found out about her Francisco Superior Court. pregnancy. Spring's father shot In the United States, seven her to death while she was out of 10 females and eight out sleeping. of 10 males are sexually active in their teens. Only one in 50 teenage mothers finishes college, as compared with one in five women who delay child-bearing until their mid- 20s.

Only 4 percent of unmarried teen mothers give up their babies for adoption. About 43 Editors: MICHAEL SCHREIBER percent of teen pregnancies end JOSEPH RYAN in abortion.

The myth that abortions take place late in pregnancy is a falsehood spread by the antichoice minority. Ninety-one percent of all abortions take place in the first trimester.

Fifty percent occur in the first San Francisco, CA 94110. eight weeks. Only 8 percent of all abortions are performed in the second trimester (6.1 percent before the 16th week). A tiny fraction, 1/100th of 1 percent, are performed during the expressed in editorials. third trimester, and then only IKNOW, HONEY.

THEY KEEP TRYING TO COMPROMISE ME TOO.

BY BORGMAN FOR THE CINCINNATI ENQUIRER| can organize the potential The National Organization for Women (NOW) is asking Two young women have that one million pro-choice supporters come to demonstrate in Washington, D.C., on April 5, 1992. In light of the recent Pennsylvania ruling—and the direct threat to Roe v. Wadethis march has become even more crucial in defending our abortion rights.

I hope that one million women who know what it was like before Roe v. Wade and one million who were born after Roe v. Wade all plan to go to Washington, D.C., for NOW's march. GET READY BUSH, WE'RE COMING!

Closing date:

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Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of we've already won but that now are threatened The gains women have made have been due to one of won rights either as a result of their independent mobilizations as women (suftrage, higher education, etc.) or as part of a unified labor movement (the eight-hour day, end of child labor, equal pay in Every gain for women benefits working class men.

Think about it. Higher pay and decent work conditions benefit the whole family.

Reproductive rights, includabortion, mean that family size can be consciously planned. Publicly funded childcare centers mean that children can get quality care while parents work outside the home.

As the old song "Bread and the women means the nsing of the [human] race."

All the above horrors faced An independent women's movement can accomplish But a movement that can That movement is a united men; Black, Brown, and A united movement of

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DEFEND ALL REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS SAN FRANCISCO: The Bay Area Pro-choice movement achieved a big success when around 7,000 people, the majority of them young women, marched here on Oct. S to protest the attacks on a women's right to choose The march and rally for "safe, legal and accessible abortion," and in defense of all reproductive rights, was called by the San Francisco Pro-Choice Coalition. Over 50 organizations, including the San Francisco Labor Council and a significant number of Bay Area labor unions and women's organizations, supported the action.

It was the first major pro-choice demonstration in San Francisco in two years.

The backdrop to the spirited march was the series of restrictions on abortion being enacted in state after state, the impending confirmation of Clarence Thomas to the U.S. Supreme Court, the August attacks by the Operation Rescue anti-choice fanatics on women's health clinics in Wichita, Kansas, and the wellPhotos by Joseph Ryan/Socialist Action NEVER GO BACK!

chico,

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Thomas hearings tell us a lot ment. about life in America for women two factors. Women have