The new battle for reproductive rights

During the 1950s and 1960s perhaps up to 1.2 million women obtained illegal “back alley” abortions annually in the U.S. According to Planned Parenthood, “In 1965, abortion was so unsafe that 17 percent of all deaths due to pregnancy and childbirth were the result of illegal abortion”—an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 women each year.

But the militant, mass struggles of women in the late 1960s and early 1970s for the right to abortion as part of reproductive freedom forced a reactionary U.S. Supreme Court to strike down, on Jan. 22, 1973, the criminal abortion laws of the state of Texas. The court, in a 7-2 decision in the Roe v. Wade case, found that the right to decide whether or not to bear a child is a fundamental right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Since 1973, many states, as well as the federal government, have enacted laws to curtail this right to free access to abortion.

President Jimmy Carter eliminated Medicaid funding for abortions for 23 million poor women in 1977, when he signed into law the Hyde Amendment. Asked if this was fair to poor women, Carter, a Democrat and millionaire peanut plantation owner, answered: “There are many things in life that are not fair.”

Other laws passed to restrict abortion rights include requiring counseling and/or a 24-hour “cooling off period” before an abortion is performed, and requiring women under 18 to notify or obtain permission from a parent, guardian or the court.

As these legal struggles continue, violent, direct attacks on women’s right to choose have gone on relentlessly. Accord ing to the Abortion Access Project: “There have been 15,087 reported instances of violence and/or harassment against abortion providers since 1977, including seven murders and 17 attempted murders (actual instan ces are most likely much higher.)”

The Women’s Reproductive Rights Assistance Project, which helps women obtain abortions, gives other grim statistics on the accessibility of services: “Only 17 states provide financial assistance to poor women seeking abortions; 14 of them do so under court order. Over 87 percent of U.S. counties do not have services even though 34 percent of all women ages 15 to 44 reside in those counties. Over 31 percent of U.S. metropolitan areas have no providers. Eight of 10 residency programs do not require doctors to learn abortion procedures.”

The Abortion Access Project states: “Since 1982, the number of abortion providers has decreased by 37 percent.... From 1982 to 2000, the number of hospitals providing abortions has decreased by 57 percent.”

In the new millennium the right-wing backlash against women and the right to choose has continued unabated.

A heavy setback occurred recently in the state of South Dakota, where on March 6 Republican Gov. Mike Rounds signed into law HB1215, the so-called “Women’s Health and Human Life Protection Act.”

This law effectively bans abortions in that state except if the life of the pregnant woman is in jeopardy. If that is the case, doctors are required under the new law to try to save the life of the fetus as well as the woman. There are no exceptions for pregnancies occurring as a result of rape or incest, which is rape by a family member. Doctors performing an abortion could receive a $5,000 fine and five years in prison.

A review by the U.S. Supreme Court was the openly stated goal for the South Dakota law. Anti-choice forces look to the current Supreme Court majority of reactionaries to end Roe and set women back decades in the struggle for equality and reproductive choices. If Roe is overturned, it is likely a majority of states will outlaw abortion almost immediately. Ballot drives to ban or severely curtail the right to abortion are already taking place in at least a dozen states.

The abortion ban will take effect in South Dakota on July 1. About 800 abortions are performed annually in this state of only 770,000 residents.

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy Research report on the status of women in South Dakota, median annual earnings for women rank last in the nation. Ten percent of white women in the state live in poverty compared to 50 percent of Native American women. Because of extreme poverty caused by centuries of genocide and racism, life expectancy for Native Americans in South Dakota is only 55 years for women, and a mere 46 years for men.

The prohibition of abortions will affect women within the oppressed nations and working-class, low-income women far more heavily than white women with income and resources to seek an abortion outside the state.

Oglala nation leads
fight for women

Activists for reproductive rights in South Dakota stepped up their efforts after HB1215 was enacted, and on March 24 announced the formation of the South Dakota Campaign for Healthy Families and the launching of a petition drive to put HR1215 before voters in the state’s November elections.

Cecelia Fire Thunder of the Oglala Sioux nation, leader of the Pine Ridge Reservation, is co-chair of the campaign. Not only has Fire Thunder taken the lead in organizing the statewide petition drive, but at the end of March she announced that she plans to build a clinic that will provide abortions on the Pine Ridge Reser vation, effectively circumventing the state law banning abortions. Even South Dakota Attorney General Larry Long has conceded that such a clinic could operate lawfully at Pine Ridge even with the state ban in place. (msnbc.msn.com)

President Fire Thunder has stated, “An Indian reservation is a sovereign nation and we’re going to take it as far as we can to exercise our sovereignty. As Indian women, we fight many battles. This is... another battle we have to fight....In our culture, children are sacred, but women are sacred, too....” (WorldNetDaily.com)

In an interview with Rose Aguilar of AlterNet, Fire Thunder also declared: “The proposed clinic would be for all women....This clinic would go beyond abortion and contraception. We’re missing out on teaching our boys and men about what they need to do to avoid pregnancies. Ultimately, this is a much bigger issue than just abortion. The women of America should be outraged that policies and decisions about their bodies are being made by male politicians and clergy. It’s time for women to reclaim their bodies.... This is a call to arms by women in the United States. Women of color and poor women have always known that regardless of what happens, women with money will have access to abortion. Women with money will have access to contraception. No matter which way you cut it, it’s always on the backs of poor women.”

It is time to take inspiration for action from the courageous words and acts of Cecelia Fire Thunder. It is time for militant struggle by millions of women and their male allies

Whether a mass march on the Supreme Court or thousands of local actions, whether a convergence in Sioux Falls, S.D., to keep the clinic open and operating come July 1, or picketing pharmacies that refuse to sell contraceptives, the time for action is now.