Vol. 73/No. 24      June 22, 2009

Scott Roeder, charged with killing Tiller, gave CNN an interview from his jail cell, calling the clinic’s closing “a victory.” Antiabortion outfits Operation Rescue and the Kansas Coalition for Life say the same thing.

The right-wing forces are emboldened by the shooting of Tiller and the clinic’s closure. The Kansas Coalition for Life has announced that it may now direct its campaign of intimidation and harassment at clinics in the Kansas City area and North Dakota.

Cops from the local to federal level were fully aware of Roeder and his history of antiabortion vandalism and violence. A worker at Tiller’s clinic reported to FBI agents that Roeder had attempted to glue the clinic’s door locks shut the day before he gunned the doctor down. The agents took no action. Statements by leading capitalist politicians like President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the need to find “common ground” with opponents of a woman’s right to choose further embolden the rightists.

The closing of the clinic underscores the pressing need to rebuild a movement to defend a woman’s right to choose. Like the two-decades-long movement preceding it by Blacks and their supporters in the fight against racial discrimination, the movement for women’s rights in the early years following legalization of abortion in 1973 refused to subordinate its demands to the hollow promises and career aspirations of capitalist politicians in the Democratic and Republican parties.

But the main women’s rights organizations have pursued the opposite course, increasingly compromising on issues like abortion in order to put “friends of women” in office. Their course has contributed to the demobilization and political disorientation of generations of women and their supporters, at a time when support for a woman’s right to choose and for women’s rights in general remains the majority sentiment.

In many cities across the country protest rallies were organized immediately upon hearing about the killing of Dr. Tiller. That response is an important indication that many understand the stakes involved, and are looking for political discussion on the road forward and action that can mobilize support for women’s right to choose abortion, answer the lies of the antiabortion forces, and increase the confidence of women’s rights fighters.
 
 
Related articles:
1,000 attend funeral for slain clinic doctor Tiller
Buffalo, New York: turning point in abortion rights fight  
 
 
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