Reproductive rights forces mobilize

The struggle for reproductive rights, particularly women’s right to choose abortion, is heating up.

In South Dakota 0n June 19, the Campaign for Healthy Families won a temporary victory when Secretary of State Chris Nelson certified pro-choice petitions to place HB1215 on the Nov. 7 ballot. That recently passed law criminalized almost all abortions in the state, with no exceptions for rape, incest or chance of harm to the woman from the pregnancy. Campaign activists filed over 38,000 signatures to repeal the law.

As a result of the petition campaign the law, which was to have gone into effect in July, will now be suspended pending the November election results. Voters will be asked to vote “No” on Referred Law 6 in order to overturn what the CHF calls the “extreme ban” on the right to abortion.

In Louisiana on June 18 Democratic Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed a strict anti-choice law, which will take effect if the U.S. Supreme Court overturns its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that expanded abortion rights. Like the South Dakota measure, the Louisiana law has no exceptions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. It includes stiff criminal penalties—10 years in prison and fines of $100,000—for physicians who perform abortions unless to save a woman’s life.

Seven other states already have such “trigger laws” on the books to outlaw abortion if Roe is reversed. Bills banning abortion are pending in Ohio and Tennessee.

Meanwhile, on June 19, the U.S. Supreme Court announced that it will review a California court ruling against the federal “Partial-Birth” Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The biased language of that law refers to certain third-trimester procedures used to terminate pregnancies.

In February the high court agreed to rule on a U.S. Court of Appeals decision in Nebraska that struck down the federal law as unconstitutional and imposing an undue burden on women’s right to privacy. Now the Supreme Court will review both cases when its fall term begins in October. Anti-choice groups hope recent conservative additions to the court, Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts, will result in Roe v. Wade being overturned.

In Michigan, activists are stepping up efforts to defend and expand women’s right to reproductive choices. On June 30, the Detroit Action Network for Repro-ductive Rights will hold a pro-choice rally and news conference in downtown Detroit—timed for the day before the South Dakota law was to go into effect.

Shalece Daniels, administrator of the Women’s Advisory Center & Sharpe Clinics and DANFORR activist, told Workers World: “South Dakota was like a slap in the face, the first domino in taking away our rights. Right-wing forces have a petition drive to change the [Michigan] state constitution to say that life begins at conception and therefore make abortion illegal. We will be demonstrating on June 30 to show our resolve that a law like the one in South Dakota will never be allowed in Michigan.

“We also want to show our solidarity with the women of South Dakota in their struggle for choice. July 1 will mark a temporary pro-choice victory in South Dakota, but it will also be a solemn reminder to women everywhere that, without a struggle, choice can be taken away.”

For more information, contact DANFORR at (313) 378-2369 or at [email protected].