Militant response to assassination
Pro-choice forces rebound in Buffalo
By Beverly Hiestand and Ellie Dorritie
Buffalo, N.Y.
If the assassination of Dr. Barnett Slepian was meant to
intimidate and immobilize the movement to defend women's right
to choose abortion-it failed.
On Oct. 31, hundreds of protesters rallied in Niagara Square
to militantly proclaim their commitment to continue the fight
to defend reproductive freedom for all women.
Slepian was shot in the back in his own kitchen by a sniper
on Oct. 24.
The obstetrician/gynecologist had provided his patients with
a full range of health services, including abortion. As a
result, he had been the target of violent threats and
anti-Semitic slurs by anti-abortion zealots over the years.
Slepian was even on an anti-abortion "hit list" on the
Internet.
But the murder of this beloved and respected doctor-the only
one who still accepted Medicaid patients for abortions in
Buffalo-did not succeed in demoralizing the struggle here.
In fact, the Oct. 31 rally on the steps of City Hall not
only galvanized those who were longtime activists. It also
pulled new forces into the ranks of the pro-choice
movement.
The rally began with a ringing denunciation of the
euphemistic name for anti-abortion reactionaries: "'Right to
Life', your name's a lie, you don't care if doctors die."
Cops used police cruisers to block traffic in Niagara
Square. But they needn't have bothered. The throng of assembled
activists had already moved into the streets and effectively
stopped traffic.
From every direction, more protesters continued to swell the
rally. Many came from neighborhoods in Buffalo and from the
local campuses. Others came from Detroit, Cleveland, Newark and
Jersey City, N.J., New York, Rochester, Olean and Chattauqua,
N.Y., and southern Ontario.
They wore colorful buttons and stickers: "Keep Abortion
Legal," "It's about Women's Rights," "We Won't Go Back,"
"Another Mother for Choice," "Abortion on Demand and Without
Apology."
Other buttons represented the spectrum of struggles that
these activists are part of-the struggle to free political
prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, for lesbian/gay/bi/trans rights, and
for increased government AIDS funding.
All ages were represented, but young people predominated.
Almost half those at the rally were men.
Some parents pushed their children in strollers, walked with
them hand-in-hand or hoisted them onto their shoulders. "Every
child a wanted child," read Planned Parenthood posters.
Some demonstrators carried blue printed cardboard disks
reading, "Keep Abortion Legal." Others had made their own
signs, stapled to broom handles and yardsticks.
"Abortion is legal, assassination is not," one read.
Another: "If you can't trust me with choice, how can you trust
me with a child?" And: "If you're not outraged, you're not
paying attention."
One man carried a giant blow-up of a newspaper article. The
headline read, "Study says illegal abortions kill up to
200,000 women a year."
'Making our own news'
The local media had provided extensive coverage of
anti-abortion spokespeople during the week leading up to the
rally.
By the evening of Oct. 29, it was clear that the media were
ignoring all the news releases they had received about the
pro-choice event set for Oct. 31.
So rally organizers made their own news. Local television
stations received faxes advising them to send film crews to an
overpass on the main expressway in downtown Buffalo during
morning rush hour.
When the crews arrived at the crack of dawn, they found
pro-choice activists hanging a huge banner announcing the rally
from the overpass.
At the sight of the banner, drivers created a cacophony of
sound as they honked their car horns in delight and
support.
That day, footage of the banner appeared on every newscast.
Reporters' requests for interviews with pro-choice activists
poured in.
As demonstrators drove into Buffalo for the rally on Oct.
31, they were greeted by the banner-still hanging from the
overpass.
'Our anger is stronger than your bullets!'
Organizers also helped draw attention to the Niagara Square
rally with a slow-moving car caravan down one of the city's
main thoroughfares an hour before the event.
Along the route, other drivers leaned on their horns in
support. Some pedestrians nodded, applauded or flashed a thumbs
up signal.
"Our anger is stronger than your bullets," read the sign on
one car in the caravan.
Earlier, as activists busily adorned their cars with
placards, they explained why they had come.
Trudi came from Rochester, N.Y. "I've been pro-choice
since-how many years has it been since 1944? I was a visiting
nurse then.
"A 13-year-old girl died in my arms. She was the victim of
incest, and a coat-hanger abortion."
Stacey was taping a "Medical Students for Choice" sign to
her sport utility vehicle. "As a future health-care provider,"
she told Workers World, "if I don't start acting now we won't
have the training, and society won't have the
accessibility."
Posters on the lead caravan vehicle read: "North American
Native Warriors support Women's Rights." Grandpa Bear, the
national director of that organization, said he was
participating "because I believe in what they're fighting
for."
When the car caravan arrived at Niagara Square, those
gathered for the rally cheered, whistled and applauded.
'We'll show you what a fight-back means!'
Rally speakers expressed their determination to continue to
fight for every woman's right to control her own body.
Marilynn Buckham, director of the Buffalo GYN WomanServices
Clinic, vowed to keep the doors of the health center open.
Buckham brought a message to the rally from Lynn Slepian.
Buckham said Lynn Slepian "said that access must remain or
his life would have been in vain." Dr. Barnett Slepian was Lynn
Slepian's husband.
Sharon Fawley-former New York state president of the
National Organization for Women and one of the coordinators of
the 1992 defense of Buffalo's women's clinics-emphasized,
"There is no common ground" between anti-abortionists and
pro-choice activists.
Lois Shapiro-Cantor, current president of New York state
NOW, explained: "The Justice Department denies there is a
conspiracy to kill and maim doctors and bomb [abortion clinic]
buildings. Their inaction has allowed these terroristic groups
to flourish."
Akua Kamau, an African American activist and poet, recounted
the story of a young friend of hers who had bled to death
during a botched illegal abortion. "Those assassins who stand
in the shadows have no idea what women go through," she
concluded.
Junda Woo spoke as the coordinator of the University of
Buffalo Chapter of Medical Students for Choice-a national
organization founded in 1993 for those interested in learning
how to perform abortions. She reminded those gathered that
abortion services are currently unavailable in 84 percent of
the counties in the United States.
"It's time to close ranks" to fight for women's right to
choose, stressed David Collins, former Buffalo Council member
and current deputy director of recruitment and training for the
A. Philip Randolph Institute in Washington.
Barb Neth, representing the local National People's
Campaign, received a roar from the crowd when she said: "The
far right, the religious fundamentalists, the militias and the
white supremacists, the anti-Semites and the homophobic
bigots-they all hate abortion.
"Why? Because they know, just like we know, that women who
are able to control their own lives have power. And with power,
women become a force for change."
Speaking on behalf of Workers World Party, Leslie Feinberg
connected the racist lynching of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper,
Texas, the anti-gay murder of Matt Shepard in Laramie, Wyo.,
and the killing of Dr. Slepian in Buffalo.
The crowd cheered when Feinberg concluded: "Let the right
wing hear our vow: We'll show you what a fight-back means!"
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011
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