BY JOSÉ PÉREZ  
Marxists approach all questions from the standpoint of the interests of the working class. On the question of abortion, we have to begin by recognizing that women are not a group of "individuals," but an oppressed sex. The majority of women in the United States are also exploited as workers.

At the heart of women’s oppression is the denial of their right to control their reproductive capacities. That’s what the abortion struggle is about--the democratic right of half the population to decide for themselves if and when they will bear children....

Only by examining the ways women are oppressed can we understand why this issue is so important, not only for women, but for the working class as a whole.

The majority of women in the United States work outside the home. When they get off the job, they must put in long hours of unpaid overtime taking care of household chores.

On the job, women earn less than two-thirds of what men earn. The yearly median wage of women who work full time is $6,760 less than what men earn. Multiplying this by the forty-five million women in the labor force, we get $300 billion that the capitalists make--simply by not paying women as much as men.

For Black women and Latinas, who are triply oppressed as workers, women, and members of oppressed nationalities, the wage disparity is even greater.

Whereas white males have a median weekly salary of $380, Latinas earn only $209.

These differentials go against the interests of the entire working class, because it puts a heavy downward pressure on everyone’s wages. Only the bosses profit from this.

In addition, discrimination on the basis of sex--as on the basis of race, nationality, or language--is used to pit working people against each other, placing big obstacles on the road to a united struggle against the exploiters....

Women enter nontraditional jobs
Since the rise of the women’s movement at the end of the 1960s, thousands of women have entered many jobs they were traditionally excluded from. Women coal miners, truck drivers, steelworkers, and auto workers have given the lie to the claim that these are "men’s jobs" only.

In Central America, Nicaraguan women played a key role in the struggle against the Somoza dictatorship. A number of women reached the rank of commander--the highest military rank among the insurgent forces--and played important military leadership roles. In El Salvador, we see a similar process.

Restriction of women’s right to control their own bodies is one of the most fundamental and barbaric methods of ensuring that women "stay in their place."

Without the ability to determine whether and when to bear a child, a woman’s entire life is circumscribed by her reproductive capacities.

At any time, no matter what her economic circumstances or individual goals, she can be forced to carry a pregnancy to term. Once she gives birth, she will bear the major responsibility for bringing up the child.

Since other forms of contraception are not 100 percent effective, it’s no wonder that millions of women choose to have an abortion at some time in their lives.

Without the option of doing this, women’s right to full humanity does not exist. Without being able to fully exercise control over their bodies, all other rights--incuding the woman’s right to life itself--are jeopardized.
 
 
Related articles:
U.S. Senate votes to ban abortion procedure  
 
 
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