The Abortion Issue: A Socialist View

[New Tet]

http://www.slp.org/res_state_htm/abortion76.html


"Opponents of abortion, at least those who aren’t motivated by the secular interests of organized religion, sincerely claim to be guided by a noble moral principle, “the sanctity of life.”

There are those who are consistent in their pacifism and who avoid the hypocrisy that defends “the rights of the fetus” while supporting imperialism, capital punishment and a capitalist system that murders working people in a thousand different ways. There are also some who object to being painted with the same brush as the rightist forces which are consciously organizing and financing the effort to overturn the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion.

Certainly there are contradictions within the anti-abortion movement. But working people would be forgetting the most elementary nature of politics if they forgot to look at just what class forces were supporting what side of any issue. This isn’t a mechanical formula for “choosing up sides,” it is a necessity because politics is not an abstract moral debate between right and wrong. It is the reflection of class struggle and class interests, and this can never be forgotten."

[Conquer or Die]

This reminds me: I'm going to have to correct your reactionary lies about the American Civil War in that thread a while back.

[SocialismOrBarbarism]

Liberal” procapitalist support for legalized abortion is partially motivated by the fear that a collapsing society will be unable to sustain the growing population. The fear that “the masses are multiplying too fast” is directly tied to the fears of impending disaster which mark every revolutionary age. Since the capitalist class reels in horror at the rational solution to any population problem, namely the establishment of a planned socialist society which could deal with it in a humane, democratic way, the capitalist class welcomes anything that will restrict the growth of the working class and the poor, especially in a period of stagnation when its system has no use for millions of people.There's more to it than this. A common criticism of pro-choice legislation that I've seen from conservatives is that it's kept in place by people who profit from abortion. It's a billion dollar industry. I've heard that the contraception given out at abortion clinics is of the lowest quality, and I don't really see any reason to think that's false. I don't see this ever being taken care of in a satisfactory way until we have socialism.

[yuon]

So, New Tet, are you for or against abortion rights? Are you pro- or anti- choice?

Socialists should support abortion rights for one simple reason. Socialists are on the side of personal freedom. Abortion is one of these issues that crosses classes, rich women get pregnant, just as poor women do (though, perhaps, with less frequency*).

Of course, you then can mention the fact that the "poor innocent babies" have rights too. I don't need to explain the argument about how it doesn't matter if the "baby" is innocent or not, do I?


Footnote
* To that extent, and thus obviously that the poor will thus require more abortions, it is a class issue. However, it is still a fact that rich women require abortions, even if it is easier for the rich to access them. See Ireland for an example. So, perhaps, like buying a decent pair of boots (and spending $50) as opposed to a shit pair (and spending $10, but having them last only one tenth the time as the good pair), abortion, or access to them, is a class issue. If you can afford the cost of flying to another country to have an abortion, you are saved the cost of raising the baby... But I digress.

[New Tet]

This reminds me: I'm going to have to correct your reactionary lies about the American Civil War in that thread a while back.

Which "reactionary lies" are those?

[New Tet]

So, New Tet, are you for or against abortion rights? Are you pro- or anti- choice?

Two different questions, I think.

Personally, I am against abortion on purely humanitarian grounds. It is a shock for many women to have to undergo a procedure to abort a fetus whether or not they have moral objections to it.

Politically, AND personally I unequivocally support the right of women to control every aspect of their person including their reproductive rights.

Like the leaflet that I posted here concludes, I believe that only a socialist society can reconcile the contradictions that arise under capitalism around the important issue of reproductive rights.

[New Tet]

There's more to it than this. A common criticism of pro-choice legislation that I've seen from conservatives is that it's kept in place by people who profit from abortion. It's a billion dollar industry. I've heard that the contraception given out at abortion clinics is of the lowest quality, and I don't really see any reason to think that's false. I don't see this ever being taken care of in a satisfactory way until we have socialism.

Consider this: Why is it that the two principal issues of life and death, abortion and capital punishmnet are never brought up in a referendum, at least in the U.S.?

I believe that it is because the capitalist state wishes to keep the power to control those issues out of the hands of the majority of the people.