The recent steps by the New Jersey legislature to ban a late- term abortion procedure in that state are just the latest in a series of moves by the government and right-wing forces aimed at rolling back a woman's fundamental right to control her own body. These efforts began just three years after the Roe v. Wade victory, when the U.S. Congress passed the Hyde Amendment in 1976, cutting off Medicaid funding for abortion in virtually all cases. This legislation and steps since then to restrict access to abortion strike hardest at working-class women and especially those of oppressed nationalities. The labor movement should champion the fight for abortion rights, which are fundamental to women's equality.

The 25th anniversary of winning the right to abortion will be an important occasion for defenders of women's rights to organize pickets, rallies, forums, speakouts, and other actions. Mobilizations and public meetings serve to push back the right-wing forces that have blockaded clinics and tried to terrorize women and doctors at them, and build confidence among women's rights fighters and win solidarity from other struggles.  
 
 
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