The Militant(logo) 
    Vol.61/No.11           March 17, 1997 
 
 
Oppose Any Abortion Ban  
 Bipartisan forces in Washington are stepping up their probes to criminalize what they falsely call "partial-birth abortions." U.S. President William Clinton says he is prepared to sign the bill, if it contains an exception for women who need the operation for health reasons. A law banning the type of late-term abortion, properly known as intact dilation and extraction, was passed by both houses of Congress last year, but the Senate failed to override a presidential veto. If adopted, the measure would mark the first time that a type of abortion has been made illegal since the women's liberation movement won the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling legalizing abortion 24 years ago.

There is a stepped-up ideological campaign against women's rights today, particularly targeting the right to abortion. In the past two years, state governments have enacted 32 antichoice laws, twice as many as they did in the previous two years. These include measures restricting late- term abortions, requiring women under 18 get parental consent for an abortion, and others that limit access to safe, legal abortions. These laws give wind to rightist forces who act in the streets as well, such as those who bombed abortion clinics in Atlanta and Tulsa, Oklahoma, earlier this year.

The attacks on women's rights are one way the bosses and their government try to increase divisions within the working class, in order to undermine workers' political self- confidence and class consciousness and drive down the value of workers' labor power.

Defenders of women's rights, democratic rights, and class- conscious fighters should champion women's right to control their own bodies, including the right to choose an abortion without restrictions. Fighters can defend that right to choose by speaking out at public meetings, participating in gatherings like the April 11-13 Young Feminists Summit, and defending the clinics that provide abortions.  
 
 
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