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From Pro-Choice Action Committee

On January 22, over 200 pro-choice activists demonstrated against the anti-abortionists of the "right-to-life" movement and in favor of a woman's right to choose.

January 22 was the eighth anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision to legalize abortion. Every year anti-abortionists hold "memorial services" for the fetus. And every year, they are met by women's rights supporters.

The week leading up to January 22 was filled with pro-choice activity. The Cleveland Abortion Rights Action League (CARAL) sponsored a full-page ad in the Cleveland Plain Dealer which had over 650. signatures. They also sponsored some hard-hitting ads on the local radio stations arguing for a woman's right to choose. The Reproductive Freedom Coalition raised money for poor women who needed abortions, and Omni Health Clinic provided free abortions for poor women on January 22. They now will perform abortions for all victims of rape and incest. The Cleveland Pro-Choice Action Committee, which sponsored the march and rally, handed out leaflets about abortion rights at showings of Nine to Five, at the counter-inaugural, at the Welfare office, the Federal Building, and downtown at Public Square.

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At the demonstration against the "right-to-lifers,' the Cleveland Police SWAT team was sent out to protect the fetus fetishists.

The pro-choice rally took place at Cleveland State. Linda Filsinger spoke for Cleveland Pro-Choice Action Committee. The featured speaker was Rhonda Copelon, one of the lawyers who argued the McCrae case in the Supreme Court. Copelon urged everyone either to join the pro-choice forces or to raise the issue of abortion rights at your work-place or in your community. She pointed out that the anti-abortionists built their movement by fighting every battle, win or lose. "We must do the same," she stated.

Copelon warned of the dangers of the so-called "Human Life" or "Innocent Life" Amendment. If passed, a fertilized egg would have more rights than

a woman. This could be used as the pretext to force women out of the workforce. "It is the ultimate invasion of privacy by the state."

The demonstration was a big success. But it is important to translate that success into activities in support of choice. Already the "Human Life Amendment" has been introduced in Congress. There are

FIRST THEY WANTED THEM 1"

AMENDMENT RIGHTS. THEN THEY

WANTED THEIR 14th AMENDMENT RIGHTS. Now THEY WANT ALL THEIR RIGHTS...

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ACLU Women's Rights Report

very restrictive anti-abortion laws being introduced in the state legislature. Reagan's HUD Secretary, Richard Schweiker, has announced that he opposes not only abortion, but federal funding for birth control and sex education in the schools.

The Cleveland Pro-Choice Action Committee is an activist organization which fights for accessible, legal and safe abortions. We meet monthly and we desperately need your help. For more information or to volunteer, please call 321-6143 or 932-9344.

Cleveland's Visionary Conference

On May 15, 16 and 17, a conference for radicalthinking women will be held at Camp Yaheur, which is about an hour's drive east of Cleveland. The purpose of the conference is to identify the future needs of women so that our survival and growth will be

Fundraising Drive

A fundraising drive on January 21, sponsored by the Reproductive Freedom Coalition, raised $1800 to assist Medicaid women in obtaining safe abortion. The funds have been turned over to Planned Parenthood of Greater Cleveland to be distributed as part of that agency's Consumer Medical Services Loan Fund. In just two weeks, ten loans have been made to women in need of abortions but unable to afford even the reduced fees being offered by OMNI, Preterm and Cleveland Center for Reproductive Health.

W Women in need of financial help in obtaining abortions should call Planned Parenthood at 721-4700.

Contributions can be made to the Consumer Loan Fund (in care of) Planned Parenthood, 2027 Cornell Rd., Cleveland, Ohio 44106, or (in care of) Education for Freedom of Choice in Ohio, 439 the Arcade, Cleveland, Ohio 44114. Mark your check "Consumer Fund,"

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assured. The format of workshops will help to move participants' thinking ahead to set goals for the 80's and 90's.

Send your visions for women in 2000 A.D. to P.O. Box 18175, Cleveland Heights, Ohio 44118, attention: Visionary Conference.

The schedule for the conference is as follows: May 15-registration and a chemically-free coffee house atmosphere with local musicians performing.

May 16-Workshops on healing, economic power, gay politics, living situations and collectivity, spirituality, chemical dependency, radical feminism, women's music and culture, battered and battering women, land projects, fat liberation, ecology, womenspaces, children, and a panel of existing women's groups.

May 17-planning strategies to make our May 16 dreams come true.

Anyone interested in helping with the conference should call 932-0977. We need workers. See the next issue of What She Wants for specific information about the location, cost, and registration.

New WSW Phone Number

Leave messages for WSW at 696-3100 during these hours: 9:30-5:30 and 7:30-10:00 Monday through Friday:

ABORTION UPDATE

From EFCO

By Chris Link

Why should legal abortion be the priority for all left and progressive groups? Rhonda Copelon, attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights, made it clear to an audience of 150 on January 22nd that the passage of the Human Life Amendment would be a monumental victory for the total platform of the right and a crushing defeat for the left.

Copelon pointed out that the so-called "Moral Majority" is using the abortion issue as the cornerstone for a repressive movement which is antilabor, inherently racist, and which support military expenditures over human needs. The Left cannot excuse itself from the abortion fight because it is a "women's issue;" the same people we are fighting in the anti-choice movement are those who are bankrolling "right-to-work" laws and militarism overseas and anti-busing campaigns in the U.S.

Copelon explained the Human Life Amendment in detail. The current language of the Helms-Doran Amendment reads:

The paramount right to life is vested in each human being from the moment of fertilization without regard to age, health or condition of dependency.

The right-wing national publication, "The Catholic Wanderer" explains that this language is preferable because 1) it allows absolutely no exceptions under any circumstances (this would be worse than pre-1973 when many states allowed exceptions to save the life of the woman and for cases of rape or incest) and 2) this Amendment would make IUD's and low dose birth control pills illegal, a major goal of the Moral Majority.

The ultimate goal of the Moral Majority is not only the criminalization of abortion, but a return to traditional roles for women. A quick way to force women out of the work place is to take away their ability to plan their reproductive lives and space wanted pregnancies.

Copelon's talk followed a demonstration by 200 pro-choice supporters at the right-to-life-sponsored "Memorial for the Unborn" on January 22. In other action around the eighth anniversary of legalized abortion, State Representative Ken Rocco introduced three anti-abortion bills in the Ohio General Assembly, and Cleveland City Councilman Alan Koson announced plans to introduce an antiabortion ordinance in Cleveland.

CWW Takes Aim

CWW has announced a new strategy in its campaign for the rights of clerical employees at National City Bank (NCB). In addition to seeking change in NCB's policies by pressuring the Office of Federal Contract Compliance to pursue CWW's class action charge of discrimination against the bank, CWW will be targeting for publicity and pressuring directly major owners of stock at the bank (which include unions, churches, and large corporations). Eaton Corporation, Republic Steel, and Sherwin-Williams are three major shareholders with seats on NCB's board of directors.

Congratulations to Helen Williams, previous Director of Cleveland Women Working, who has accepted a position as Administrative Director of Working Women, and to Carol Kurtz, who replaces her as the new Director of CWW.

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