The ruling was the result of a powerful movement of thousands of women who refused to accept second-class status and won increasing numbers to their side through education and protest. Their fight rose on the shoulders of the civil rights movement and the movement against the U.S. war in Vietnam.

The fight for abortion rights also emerged from the deepgoing changes following World War II as women joined the labor force in ever greater numbers. This trend continues to this day, affecting women’s self-confidence and expectations, and transforming the attitudes of men.

Leaders of middle-class organizations for women’s rights have sounded an alarmist note following the Republican successes in last year’s elections. "We may soon find ourselves memorializing Roe v. Wade," said Gloria Feldt, the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

But Roe v. Wade cannot just be legislated away by anti-choice lawmakers. The ruling was a product of big struggles and deep social changes that have left a mark on social consciousness. That is reflected in the declining minority of those who oppose access to abortion. To launch a frontal assault on the right to choose abortion would be to pick a fight the rulers cannot be confident of winning.

What the Republicans and Democrats alike have done is to chip away over more than two decades at the availability of abortion services and funding. Parental consent and waiting-period laws have the same impact, especially for younger women. The impact of these restrictions falls particularly hard on women of the working class and the oppressed nationalities.

These attacks are part of a broader offensive that the U.S. employing class has waged in that same period--against wages, job conditions, workers’ rights, and unions. Accompanying that has been an ideological offensive aimed at deepening divisions among working people.

Affirmative action has been a target of bipartisan attacks just like the right to choose abortion. The aim is not to turn women or Blacks out of the workforce, but to undermine the consciousness, confidence, and combativity of these layers of the working class and weaken the working class as a whole.

With the decline of the women’s movement and of the abortion rights struggle--with important exceptions like the mobilizations to defend abortion clinics during the 1980s and 1990s--the rulers are emboldened to keep pressing along this course.

The fight to defend women’s right to choose and to overcome other aspects of discrimination is linked to broader labor struggles. Only by standing alongside the women’s movement of the future and by taking up such demands of the oppressed can the unions, fighters for Black rights and other social forces forge a fighting unity--the sort of strength that is necessary to reinforce all organizations of the working class. The fight to hold the ground of Roe v. Wade and to make progress from there is a key issue in such a course.
 
 
Related articles:
Washington rally marks Roe v. Wade, defends right to abortion
Right to abortion won by struggles of women  
 
 
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