radical women - Blogs - TheBlackList Pub2024-03-29T13:59:30Zhttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/radical+womenWomen's Rights Day 2016 – Vote socialist & fight the righthttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/women-s-rights-day-2016-vote-socialist-fight-the-right2016-08-26T13:16:17.000Z2016-08-26T13:16:17.000ZSendMeYourNewshttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/SendMeYourNews<div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="templateContainer"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="templateBody"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="bodyContent"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><a href="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014/images/7fdee72f-7954-4e5b-91ba-b725d7c045b3.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014/images/7fdee72f-7954-4e5b-91ba-b725d7c045b3.jpg" class="align-full" alt="7fdee72f-7954-4e5b-91ba-b725d7c045b3.jpg" /></a>Ninety-six years ago, women in the United States won the right to vote after a century of struggle. Suffragettes were mocked, demonized, beaten and jailed. They refused to back down and finally on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution became law.<br /><br />Today many feminists are thinking of using that hard-won right to vote for Hillary Clinton. They want to vote for the first female president, an historic event, and to vote down the frighteningly sexist, racist Donald Trump. Radical Women urges a different course.<br /><br />For decades, U.S. voters have been pushed to choose between the lesser of two evils. And there’s no doubt about the evils in this election. Trump’s disgusting statements on immigrants, African Americans and Muslims have won him the endorsement of KKK leaders. To him, women are “animals,” “ugly dogs,” “slobs” and “gold diggers”—essentially subhuman. Some have treated Trump as a colossal joke but the fascist forces swirling at his base are no laughing matter.<br /><br /><br />Who will defend working-class women and men of all colors, creeds and ethnicities from this vicious right-winger? Not Hillary Clinton, that's for sure. In Clinton's term as Secretary of State she promoted expanding the wars in the Middle East and championed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a free trade agreement that would eliminate jobs, labor rights and environmental protection laws.<br /><br />Clinton promises to push for equal pay for equal work and doubtless she will—for women CEOs and executives. Female Walmart workers can tell you she did nothing for them during the six years she sat on the Walmart board as the company screwed them out of pay and promotions. Clinton’s position on abortion is appallingly weak: “legal but rare” she says.<br /><br />Mothers of color and their families have borne the brunt of Clinton’s policies. In <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/hillary-clinton-does-not-deserve-black-peoples-votes/" target="_blank">an article in <em>The Nation</em></a>, Michelle Alexander eloquently laid out the devastating effects of laws Clinton backed in the 1990s: “It is difficult to overstate the damage that’s been done. Generations have been lost to the prison system; countless families have been torn apart or rendered homeless; and a school-to-prison pipeline has been born that shuttles young people from their decrepit, underfunded schools to brand-new high-tech prisons.”<br /><br />The twin parties of the bosses, with the greatest of contempt for the American people, offer us the “choice” between the fire, Donald Trump, or the frying pan, Hillary Clinton—either way we get burned. Radical Women urges you to vote for the best socialist or anti-capitalist candidate on your ballot—write one in if necessary. This will give the message that people are out to fight an ever-grimmer status quo and a Trumpized political scene.<br /><br />Regardless of who is elected, there are urgent battles ahead—quashing the far-right; stopping police murders of Black, Native American and Brown people; ending the scapegoating and deportation of immigrants; securing women's reproductive rights; moving against climate change; and terminating U.S. wars for oil and profit.<br /><br />Our true choice this election is the only one working-class women and men are ever given: the choice to come together to fight for our lives. Through a principled, democratic, united front of working people, we can cross the divisions of race, gender, sexuality, and immigration status that capitalism imposes and profits from.<br /><br />If you are interested in collaborating, contact Radical Women at <a href="mailto:RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com" target="_blank">RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com</a>or visit <a href="http://www.radicalwomen.org/" target="_blank">www.RadicalWomen.org</a>. Together, we can mobilize to create a genuinely better future!</td>
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</tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="templateFooter"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="footerContent"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="social"><div><div><hr /><p><em><strong>Learn more about Radical Women through <a href="http://www.radicalwomen.org/literature.shtml#RWManifesto" target="_blank">The Radical Women Manifesto</a>, an exhilarating exploration of Marxist feminist theory and organizing methods, <a href="http://www.redletterpress.org/rwmanifesto.html" target="_blank">buy a copy</a> or read it on <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=06Hvq8Yobc0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=radical+women+manifesto&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ifYsUZO0O-ST8gGqsoHYAg&ved=0CDgQ6AEwAA" target="_blank">Google Books</a>. Find other fiery <a href="http://www.radicalwomen.org/literature.shtml" target="_blank">Radical Women writings</a> at <a href="http://www.radicalwomen.org/" target="_blank">www.RadicalWomen.org</a>.</strong></em><br /><br /><em>Donations are appreciated!</em> As a grassroots group, Radical Women is sustained by support from people like you. Please <a href="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=5868586">contribute online</a> or mail a check, payable to Radical Women, National Office 747 Polk Street San Francisco, CA 94109 USA.</p>
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</tr><tr><td valign="top" width="350"><span style="color:#993300;"><em><strong>For more information:</strong></em></span><br /><div class="vcard"><span style="color:#993300;"><em><strong><span class="org fn">Radical Women, National Office</span></strong></em></span><div class="adr"><div class="street-address"><span style="color:#993300;"><em><strong>747 Polk Street</strong></em></span></div>
<span style="color:#993300;"><em><strong><span class="locality">San Francisco</span>, <span class="region">CA</span> </strong></em></span><span class="postal-code"><span style="color:#993300;"><em><strong>94109</strong></em></span><br /><span style="color:#993300;"><em><strong><a href="http://www.radicalwomen.org/"><span style="color:#993300;">www.RadicalWomen.org</span></a></strong></em></span><br /></span></div>
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</tr></tbody></table><p></p></div>Hooray for Supreme Court victory - the fight continues for abortion rightshttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/hooray-for-supreme-court-victory-the-fight-continues-for-abortion2016-06-28T00:49:56.000Z2016-06-28T00:49:56.000ZSendMeYourNewshttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/SendMeYourNews<div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="ecxtemplateContainer"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="ecxtemplateBody"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="ecxbodyContent"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><div><div><span><span><strong><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828586037,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}3828586037,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="598" class="align-full" alt="3828586037?profile=original" /></a>ABC</strong></span><span><strong>s of abortion rights</strong></span></span></div>
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<div>In a huge victory, the Supreme Court has ruled that Texas restrictions on clinics that perform abortions are a barrier to women’s health and violate their constitutional rights. <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828586106,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img width="384" src="{{#staticFileLink}}3828586106,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-right" alt="3828586106?profile=original" /></a> The Texas law required doctors who perform abortions to have hospital-admitting privileges and imposed impossible physical requirements on the outpatient clinics where most abortions are performed. It would have eliminated three-quarters of the state's abortion clinics, forcing an estimated 900,000 women of child-bearing age to drive more than 300 miles round-trip to reach a facility that provided abortions. The 5-3 decision in <em>Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt</em> will have a tremendous impact nationally by challenging undue restrictions (known as <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=47c08047c4&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">TRAP laws</a>) on physicians and clinics in 24 states.<br /><br />But the struggle's far from over. Every aspect of reproductive justice is under attack. The enemies of women are undermining access to abortion and birth control, affordable childcare, social services for needy families, quality medical care, prenatal support, and much more. Low-income women, women of color and immigrants face the most severe consequences, compounded by the criminalization of poverty and racist attacks. Unreasonable regulations of clinics, outright violence, and systematic intimidation are targeting the courageous medical providers who help women carry out their reproductive choices.<br /><br />One huge barrier to reproductive justice is the miseducation about this simple, safe, legal procedure. Here are some talking points to help combat misconceptions.<br /><br /><span><strong><span>A</span><span>bortion is safe</span></strong></span><br /><br /><a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=1d0b8e1469&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">Complications from abortion are lower</a> than the rate for wisdom tooth extraction, tonsillectomy, or colonoscopy.<br /><br /><a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=eeec316f34&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">Women are about 14 times more likely</a> to die during or after giving birth than from complications of an abortion. The most common side effects of pregnancy -- including high blood pressure, urinary tract infections and mental health conditions -- happen more often in women who have a live birth than those who get an abortion.<br /><br />The <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=632f90478b&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">main effects of abortion</a> are mild to strong cramps – something most women experience monthly. Aspiration (or surgical) abortions are over in a few minutes and result in only minor bleeding. Drug-induced abortions cause heavy bleeding and cramps for only a few hours and are safely done at home.<br /><br />Inflammatory lies about fetal pain, post-abortion regret and links to cancer are inventions by a rightwing movement willing to stop at nothing to prevent female autonomy.<br /><br /><span><strong><span>B</span><span>irth control cannot resolve the furor over abortion</span></strong></span><br /><br />From a medical viewpoint, <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=9751dca667&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">birth control does not end the need for abortion</a>. Condoms have an 18% failure rate. Birth control pills fail about 9% of the time, mostly due to human error. From a political perspective, many opponents of abortion denounce birth control as well, falsely claiming it causes abortions and leads to “promiscuity.”<br /><br />The conflict over abortion is not really about health. It's about whether women or moralistic patriarchs will control sexuality and reproductive decisions. Most anti-choicers are also against LGBTQ rights, sexual freedom, artificial insemination, and queer parenting. Many are anti-immigrant, pro-war and pro-death penalty. Their whole agenda must be opposed.<br /><br /><span><strong><span>C</span><span>ome together for a bold, grassroots fight!</span></strong></span><br /><br />Abortion rights were won by a massive revolt that paired civil disobedience with education, protests, legislative action, and court challenges. Working women of color have been strong leaders in the fight, consistently showing the need for a multi-pronged reproductive justice approach that opposes forced sterilization and racist eugenics, while demanding access to safe, free abortion and birth control, social services and full equality. In Washington State, Black women from the anti-poverty program worked with Radical Women to mobilize a historic 1969 march on the capitol for legalized abortion. In March 2006, Cecilia Fire Thunder, then president of the Oglala Sioux, defiantly announced she would flout South Dakota’s abortion ban by inviting a Planned Parenthood clinic to operate on tribal land.<br /><br />Here are some things you can do to help ensure that access to abortion continues:</div>
<ul><li>Speak out about how reproductive justice and the full array of issues it encompasses are necessary for the quality of life of the majority of women, particularly those most marginalized.<br /> </li>
<li>Stay tuned for ways to <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=485bab279d&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">support counter-organizing in Nebraska</a> against the July 16-23 onslaught of hundreds of anti-choicers for a so-called “Wichita Summer of Mercy” near the clinic of murdered abortion provider George Tiller.<br /> </li>
<li>Join the many groups fighting for women’s equality and reproductive justice – especially those interested in mobilizing women in their own defense rather than relying on establishment politicians who are inherently prone to compromise. Work with feminist veterans, do your own thing, rally a new group, show a video, say the forbidden words. Get involved with Radical Women, which works to eradicate all the interconnected forms of inequality – by gender, race, sexuality, class – at their root in the patriarchal capitalist system. Ultimately, the fight for reproductive justice will not be permanently won until the world now run by and for the 1% is replaced with a socialist society where human needs are paramount.</li>
</ul><div>Holding on to reproductive rights requires a militant, multi-racial united front of grassroots feminists of all genders. Control over our bodies and lives is too important to put in the hands of anyone else.</div>
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</tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="ecxtemplateFooter"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="ecxfooterContent"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="ecxsocial"><div><div><hr /><p><strong><em>Join Radical Women </em>—<em> you are needed!</em> Connect with a <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=d2d5e6a7a2&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">chapter</a> near you or contact the national office at <a href="mailto:radicalwomenus@gmail.com" target="_blank">radicalwomenus@gmail.com</a>. You can learn more about RW through <em><a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=416baace65&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">The Radical Women Manifesto</a></em>, an exhilarating exploration of Marxist feminist theory and organizing methods, <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=f92ce95434&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">buy a copy</a> or read it on <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=bffb797971&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">Google Books</a>. Find other fiery <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=ded6fa2345&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">Radical Women writings</a> at<a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=360e809ec1&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">www.RadicalWomen.org</a>.</strong><br /><br /><em>Donations are appreciated!</em> As a grassroots group, Radical Women is sustained by support from people like you. Please <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=d80a812931&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">contribute online</a> or mail a check, payable to Radical Women, National Office 747 Polk Street San Francisco, CA 94109 USA.</p>
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<p></p></div>U.S. Supreme Court escalates war on women – a radical analysishttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/u-s-supreme-court-escalates-war-on-women-a-radical-analysis2014-07-02T15:30:00.000Z2014-07-02T15:30:00.000ZSendMeYourNewshttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/SendMeYourNews<div><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="ecxtemplateContainer"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="ecxtemplateFooter"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="ecxfooterContent"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="600" id="ecxtemplateBody"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="ecxbodyContent"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="668"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><h3><span style="font-size:13px;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}3828565813,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}3828565813,original{{/staticFileLink}}" width="628" class="align-full" alt="3828565813?profile=original" /></a>On June 30, a divided Supreme Court ruled that if a “closely-held” (family-run) company chooses not to cover contraceptives it is legally okay, and just tough luck for their female employees. With Orwellian reasoning, 5 out of 9 justices stated that the freedom of religion of these companies and bosses is more compelling than women’s healthcare and right to decide when, or if, to have children. This depravity towards women is a reflection of the on-going rightward turn in U.S. politics.</span></h3>
<p>This decision follows on the heels of one that tossed out the 35-foot buffer zone around Massachusetts abortion clinics, which was enacted to stop the harassment of patients. Within days, the holier-than-thou fetus fanatics have stepped up their harassment of clients entering clinics.<br /> <br /> Added to these affronts is a decision that weakens public sector unions, one of the most militant arms of organized labor. The ruling says that thousands of home health-care workers – most often women, people of color and immigrants – are not the kind of state employees who can be required to pay fees to cover a union’s cost of collective bargaining, despite being covered by negotiated conditions. <br /> <br /> Yes, the U.S. Supreme Court ended this session with sledgehammer rulings against working women and men.<br /> <br /> Radical Women is appalled, but not surprised, by this trifecta of defeats. In the absence of a militant women’s movement, the right-wing has framed the debate, and they have done so effectively. Today corporations appear to have more civil rights than actual living and breathing residents.<br /> <br /> To keep what passes for “peace” under capitalism, the corporations and their media pundits have been working overtime to quell working people’s resistance and divide natural allies – racism, homophobia, sexism and ableism are just a few of the arrows in capitalism’s quiver. To create a safe, sane, just world for humans and every other living being, will take a movement that gets beyond just addressing one or two issues and goes far beyond voting for this corporate-backed party or that one.<br /> <br /> Let’s be honest: attempts to make Democratic Party politicians “grow a backbone” against the onslaught of attacks aimed at women’s reproductive choices and working people’s rights have been a failure. And concentrating all progressive efforts on electing Democrats has essentially let Republican politicians off the hook.<br /> <br /> The twin parties of the capitalist system aren’t going to change. Working women and men deserve a voice – at the polls and also in the streets. The feminist movement needs to move to the left and embrace a multi-issue, anti-capitalist agenda. The ultra-conservatives coordinate their attacks; feminists need to reach out with as broad a program in response.<br /> <br /> Outrage and anger will get people out in the streets – Slut Walks and Occupy showed that. But protests founded on strong program and politics win the day. The first step is to openly debate the issues like the feminist movement did in the 1960s and 70s. Questions like the origins of sexism and racism, and how to balance needed reforms and long term solutions were discussed and examined. This analysis is crucial for any political movement to learn, develop and grow.<br /> <br /> Radical Women and many other activists continue to strive to build these connections and address the issues of those who suffer most – single moms, immigrants, young women of color, trans folks – the same people regularly vilified by today’s politicians and conservative talking heads.<br /> <br /> Take the leadership of those who have the most to gain, add the multi-issue demands of the most oppressed, round it out with an anti-capitalist program, and you have a recipe for creating the economic and social revolution needed so desperately today. As these recent Supreme Court rulings underscore, it’s time to knock out the right with a feminist lef</p>
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</tr><tr><td align="center" valign="top"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="600"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="ecxfooterContent"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr><td colspan="2" valign="middle" id="ecxsocial"><div><div><hr /><p><em>Join Radical Women </em><span>—</span><em> you are needed!</em> <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=a28d946899&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">Connect with a chapter</a> near you or contact the national office at <a href="mailto:radicalwomenus@gmail.com">RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com</a>.<br /><br /> You can learn more about RW through <em><a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=b5d98b0532&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">The Radical Women Manifesto</a></em>, an exhilarating exploration of Marxist feminist theory and organizing methods, <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=b7c6e51300&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">buy a copy</a> or read it on <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=1b4f6c3a00&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">Google Books</a>. Find other fiery <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=23a51579e0&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">Radical Women writings</a> at<a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=06461ef23a&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">www.RadicalWomen.org</a>.<br /><br /><em>Donations are appreciated!</em> As a grassroots group, Radical Women is sustained by support from people like you. Please <a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=599a89ac96&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">contribute online</a> or mail a check, payable to Radical Women to 5018 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle, WA 98118.</p>
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</tr><tr><td valign="top" width="350"><div><span><strong>Radical Women, National Office</strong></span><br /><span>747 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA 94109<br /> Phone: 415-864-1278 * Fax: 415-864-0778<br /><a href="mailto:RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com">RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="http://radicalwomen.us6.list-manage.com/track/click?u=2917cfc9b3941a9932e363014&id=66011facf0&e=1f5a04f35f" target="_blank">www.RadicalWomen.org</a></span></div>
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<p></p></div>40 years after Roe v. Wade, women of color still lead the fight for reproductive justicehttps://www.theblacklist.net/profiles/blogs/40-years-after-roe-v-wade-women-of-color-still-lead-the-fight-for2013-01-21T03:28:37.000Z2013-01-21T03:28:37.000ZSendMeYourNewshttps://www.theblacklist.net/members/SendMeYourNews<div><div class="Section1"><table border="1" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td colspan="3" valign="top" width="590"><p><u><a href="http://www.socialism.com/drupal-6.8/?q=node/30" target="_blank"></a></u><em>Radical Women column by Nancy Reiko Kato ~<br /><br /></em>Jan. 22, 2013, marks the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in 1973. The court based its ruling on the idea that for government to outlaw abortion would violate a womans constitutional right to privacy.<br /><br />This was a historic triumph for womens rights, won by the influence of a cresting feminist movement. Still, it was always a limited victory. The court said that while states could not ban abortion, they could restrict it giving the right wing an opening that they have taken ferocious advantage of.<br /><br />And, as important as the right to abortion is, it is only one aspect of reproductive justice especially for women of color. Reproductive rights mean the right to free, safe abortion on demand; access to safe birth control; no forced sterilization; accurate, inclusive sex education in the schools; and social support like childcare, workplace leave, and well-paying jobs for parents, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered parents.<br /><br /></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;"><br />TheBlackList for All-Points-Of-The View<br /><strong><a href="http://theblacklist.net" target="_blank">http://theblacklist.net</a></strong><br />Now you know. What now?</p>
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<td valign="top" width="295"><p>Women of color in the U.S. have always resisted laws and practices denying them reproductive choice. Because they are more likely to be poor over 23 percent of women who are Black, Latina, or Native American live below the poverty line and because they experience racism as well as sexism, their stake in being able to control their own bodies is magnified. These facts also make women of color the strongest <strong><i>defenders</i></strong> of all aspects of biological self-determination.</p>
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</tr><tr><td colspan="3" valign="top" width="590"><p><u><br /></u><strong>Early fighters for reproductive choice.</strong> In the days of slavery, African American women, whose children would be born into bondage, sometimes covertly used traditional methods to prevent and end pregnancies, which were often the product of rape. In the early 1900s, Black women in Harlem were active in the movement for birth control.<br /><br />And, in the 1970s, a lawsuit and grass-roots organizing by Chicanas in Los Angeles were key to ending, in most of the U.S., an official policy of forced sterilization of women deemed racially, mentally, or physically inferior. As an internee in the U.S. concentration camps for Japanese Americans during World War II, my own mother narrowly escaped this fate when a proposal in Congress to sterilize women of Japanese heritage in the camps failed by <strong><i>just one vote</i></strong>.<br /><br />The campaign to legalize abortion in Washington state is an excellent example of militant, multiracial organizing, one that resulted in success three years before Roe v. Wade. Black women from anti-poverty programs joined with Radical Women members to form Abortion Action Now. They linked the need for abortion to an end to forced sterilization, demanded affirmative action and free 24-hour childcare, and recognized that without justice on the job and in the home, there is no equality.<br /><br />These ideas resonated with working women and men who marched, rallied, and spoke at public hearings. The pressure forced legislators to put legalized abortion to a public vote; it passed decisively.<br /><br /><strong>Continuing to take the lead post-Roe.</strong> The right wing has never given up its crusade to eradicate the right to abortion.<br /><br />When Roe first went into effect, poor women could use federal Medicaid funds to cover the cost of terminating a pregnancy. But this ended quickly when the Hyde Amendment, which denies Medicaid funding for abortion, took effect in 1977.<br /><br />This ban caused the death of Rosie Jiménez, a young Latina mother who was six months away from her college graduation when she was refused funding for an abortion in Texas. She turned to a back-alley butcher and died from septic shock in October 1977.<br /><br />Every year, thousands of poor women are forced either to have a child they cannot support, driving them deeper into poverty, or to risk their lives with unsafe terminations. And every year, politicians from both sides of the aisle reaffirm the Hyde Amendment.<br /><br />Meanwhile, reactionaries use every means imaginable to make abortion unobtainable, from legal restrictions to firebombings of clinics and assassinations of doctors. Eighty-five percent of U.S. counties now do not have an abortion provider.<br /><br />In March 2006, after South Dakotas legislators passed an abortion ban, Oglala Sioux President Cecelia Fire Thunder announced that she would defy the ban and open a Planned Parenthood clinic on tribal land. She paid for her courage with impeachment by the tribal council. But her bold leadership was a pivotal schooling in how to fight back and helped set the stage for a massive voter rejection of the ban later that year.<br /><br />Also in 2006, in July, Operation Save America (formerly Operation Rescue) announced they were going to Mississippi to shut down the states last abortion provider, the Jackson Womens Health Organization.<br /><br />Michelle Colon, an African American social justice activist, put out a call to come to Mississippi to defend the clinic. The response she got included young Black women, lesbians, students, and Radical Women. The reproductive justice troops, who outnumbered the anti-choicers, went door to door to gather support, held rallies and a press conference, and sent the misogynists packing. However, the state governor continues to maneuver to close the clinic.<br /><br />In 2010, 65 billboards equating abortion with genocide suddenly sprang up in Atlanta. They showed a tearful Black child next to the words endangered species.<br />Outraged by this attack on Black women, SisterSong, a national group of women of color for reproductive justice, worked with others to found the Trust Black Women coalition. The coalition organized a successful campaign to educate about the dangers of racialized anti-abortion tactics, and their leadership inspired protests in other states where the billboards appeared.<br /></p>
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<p style="text-align:center;">TheBlackList for All-Points-Of-The View<br /><strong><a href="http://theblacklist.net" target="_blank">http://theblacklist.net</a></strong><br />Now you know. What now?</p>
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<td colspan="2" valign="top" width="403"><p><strong>Forging ahead.</strong> Reproductive justice activists of color must contend not only with the right wing, patriarchal politicians, and sexism in their communities and society broadly. They deal with leaders of the mainstream feminist movement who are often unwilling to fight for the reproductive issues that most affect women of color, like forced sterilization, unsafe contraceptives, and denial of public services to undocumented immigrants.<br /><br />These more conservative feminists also rely, in vain, on Democratic Party politicians to protect womens rights.<br /><br />For feminists, the anniversary of Roe v. Wade is not a time for self-congratulation. It is a time to take to heart the lessons of the struggle for reproductive justice and renew the fight.<br /><br /></p>
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</tr><tr><td colspan="3" valign="top" width="590"><p>As Michelle Colon says, The war is in the streets, and folks who dont have anything are the best activists. We must incorporate all women into the movement or else we will lose.<br /><br />Lets celebrate Roe v. Wade by getting back to movement-building. <br /><br /><em>Send feedback to San Francisco unionist and past National Radical Women Organizer Nancy Reiko Kato at <a href="mailto:radicalwomenus@gmail.com" target="_blank">radicalwomenus@gmail.com</a>.<br /><br /></em><em> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ <br /></em><strong>Read more articles from the <a href="http://www.socialism.com/drupal-6.8/?q=node/30" target="_blank"><em>Freedom Socialist</em></a></strong><br />Subscribe <a href="http://www.socialism.com/drupal-6.8/?q=node/180" target="_blank">online</a> or send $10 for one year of $17 for two to Freedom Socialist, 5018 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle WA 98118. (Students $8 for one year, strikers and unemployed $5, overseas airmail $18.)<br /><br /></p>
<hr align="left" size="2" width="100%" /><strong>Radical Women, National Office</strong><b><br /></b>747 Polk Street, San Francisco, CA 94109<br />Phone 415-864-1278 * Fax 415-864-0778<br /><a target="_blank" href="mailto:RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com">RadicalWomenUS@gmail.com</a><br /><a target="_blank" href="http://www.radicalwomen.org/">www.RadicalWomen.org</a></td>
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