A Time to Celebrate?
By Alliance Against Women's Oppression
On January 22, 1973, in Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized abortion in this country. Coming as the result of a decade of efforts to reform and repeal anti-abortion laws, the victory had a profound impact on the lives of all women in this country. It meant the end to the thousands of deaths and hospitalizations resulting from unsafe, illegal abortions, and made abortion an option for thousands who would otherwise have continued with unwanted pregnancies. The fight for women to be able to make conscious and well-informed decisions about having children is entirely central to all other aspects of our struggle against oppression. In this context, the whole array of issues included in reproductive rights became profoundly political questions with broad social impact.
The significance of the 1973 victory cannot be overstated. However, reaction set in quickly, beginning with the concession in 1973 that hospitals and doctors don't have to perform the procedure. In 1976, a major setback was the Hyde Amendment's elimination of federal Medicaid funds for abortion. This amendment has passed yearly with fewer and fewer exceptions, and the possibility of a permanent amendment restricting funds looms on the horizon.
Local and state efforts to restrict abortion abound, with three of these laws currently before the Supreme .Court, the Court that in 1978 upheld the Hyde Amendment. More ominously, direct terror tactics of vandalism, bombing, kidnapping, harassment and other disruption have gone on through the years since 1973. In 1982, the National Right to Life Committee's Convention discussed just such tactics, and last fall the number of incidences rose dramatically across the country. Given this serious
It Boggles the Mind
By Women Speak Out/WILPF
The Child Welfare League of America is planning to hold its Central Regional Conference at Stouffer's Inn on the Square from April 10-13, 1983. Stouffer's is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Nestle Corporation. Recently the president of Stouffer Corporation became president of the parent Nestle Corporation. The motto of the CWLA is "Who speaks for Children? We must!" Apparently they do not realize that they are saying it is perfectly all right to support Nestle-Stouffer Corporation and its deadly marketing practices.
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Nestle is digging in harder than ever against the World Health Organization UNICEF Code. They're lobbying third world governments to pass weak national marketing guidelines that would undermine the International Code. In the final stroke of hypocrisy, Nestle has established its own Marketing Ethics Commission to watchdog its own salespeople. And while they have taken the white uniforms off their hired "milk nurses," they still employ such persons to peddle their products. This, according to Dr. M.C. Latham of Cornell University, is like "taking the uniforms off the members of a firing squad or the hood off a hangman.
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We can do something about it. Boycott all NestleStouffer products. And telephone or write the chair of the Child Welfare League of America Central Regional Conference. He is right here in Pepper Pike. His name is Don Harris, of Beech Brook, 3737 Lander Road, Pepper Pike, OH 44124, 831-2255. Ask that the CWLA abide by its motto and truly speak for all children.
rights, a celebration is
erosion of abortion rights, premature.
When we examine the particular impact of these attacks, we can see that they hit minority and poor
Poor women dont NEED abortionsfor them we have STERILIZATIONS!
Kurent TNCH NEWS SZERZE
women hardest. The right to abortion has increasingly become a question of access to abortion. It is minority people who disproportionately need aid for abortion and other survival services. For women with money and time, abortions may have become more of a hassle to get, but they are still readily available. This same racist edge can be seen with other reproductive rights issues. For instance, infant mortality rates are 5 times higher for minority women than white; general and timely access to health care is minimal; and rates of coerced sterilization remain consistently higher for women of color. This disproportionate burden on minority women was also the case with abortion in the years prior to
News
'Features
CONTENTS
legalization. In New York, in the 1960's, 42 percent of pregnancy-related deaths were from illegal abortions. Of these, 50 percent of the women were black, 44 percent Puerto Rican, and only 6 percent white.
In September 1982, a major congressional battle on two anti-abortion bills introduced by Jesse Helms resulted in the defeat of the two New Right bills. These bills called for a permanent ban on federal funds related to abortion (except to save the mother'slife), including abortion referral, insurance coverage, research, and medical school training in safe abortion procedures. This was in addition to the expected bill that declared fetuses to be constitutionally protected as "people.'
While these defeats represent a setback for the New Right, we can expect other anti-abortion bills to be introduced in this session of Congress. And of course, the three Supreme Court decisions are still pending, with decisions due in May or June.
Besides the legislative attempts there are signs of renewed direct pressure tactics by the New Right to deny women access to abortion, Violence and attempted intimidation at clinics has increased, but also direct pressure is being put on hospital and clinic boards, staff, and/or directors to place new restrictions on second trimester abortions, reduced funding, counseling designed to discourage abortion, consent rules and waiting periods. The impact of these policy changes is particularly hard on minority women who already have the least access to affordable, quality health care. Our strategy to defend abortion rights for all women must take these renewed tactics into consideration while maintaining the legislative front in the struggle.
The U.S. women's movement must also become more attuned to defending the rights of minority women. If we are ever to ensure access to abortion and broaden reproductive rights for all women, we must begin from the perspective of those hit first and
worst.
January 22, 1983 is a time for all women to reflect on where we have come and where we need to go from here. The advancement of the struggle for women's liberation hinges critically on whether the women's movement will be able to win the battle to protect and broaden reproductive rights. Among these rights, none is more crucial than the right to safe and affordable abortion.
WHAT SHE WANTS IS:
A monthly news journal produced for all women. We always like input from our readers in the form of articles, personal experiences, poetry, art, announcements, and letters. We welcome women who are willing to help us in specific areas of the paper (writing, kay-out, advertising, distribution, publicity, etc.) and/or who are interested in our collective.
WHAT SHE WANTS ADVOCATES: ...equal and civil rights
National and International
Peace Camps in England, U.S...... Preventing Hunger at Home...... Anti-Nuclear Activities..
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Local
Women Enrichment Program... A Time to Celebrate Abortion?. Divorce Equity, Inc........
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Anorexia and Bulimia....... Unemployment and Its Effects...... Lesbian Images in Young Adult Fiction.. A Conversation with Deb Adler...... Find It Fastest....... Letters.....
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.......back cover
...the right to earnings based on our need, merit, and interest ...access to job training, salaries, and promotions we choose ...the right to organize in unions and coalitions to advance ou ...the right to decent health care and health information ...the right to safe, effective birth control and to safe, legal abortions ...the right to accept or reject motherhood
......1 .10-12 ..16-19
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Reviews...
What's Happening...................... Classifieds....
Cover Graphic by Louise Luczak
WSW COLLECTIVE: Linda Jane, Jean Loria, Mary Walsh
WSW ASSOCIATES: Business—Judy Beckman, Blackberry, Dianne Fishman, Pat O'Malley Editorial-Bobbie Davies, Debbie Gross, Anna. Maldonado, Pat Randle
Production-Suzanne Britt, Louise Luczak, Susan Woodworth
.......the right to choose and express sexual preference without haru
ment
...access to quality education and freedom from prejudice in learning materials
DISTRIBUTION OUTLETS:
East: Appletree Books, Coventry Books, CWRU Bookstore, Food Communities, Food Project, Hemming & Hulbert
Central: Barnes & Noble, Isis, Publix Book Mart, WomenSpace West: American Indian Center, CCC Bookstore, Plants Plus, Sou Steps Down, Isis
Chagrin Falls: The Inside Story
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Akron: Cooperative Market
Kent: Kent Natural Foods Store
Columbus: Fan the Flames Bookstore
Boston, MA: New Words Bookstore
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January-February, 1983/What She Wants/Page 3