BobKKKindle$
14th June 2007, 19:15
How should leftists and feminists who want to establish abortion rights for every women organise, and what temporary solutions can be provided in countries where abortion is banned? Although we all have a clear position on this issue it is clear that we must actually engage in practical agitation in order to ensure that all women can access abortions - how should we go about doing so?
I have recently been reading about the difficulties that women have faced in trade union organisations when the have tried to ensure that their fellow members - especially men - recognize the importance of abortion and how limited access to abortion affects working class women. In Socialist Worker Angela Phillips, a notable abortion activist, wrote about her experiences in 1979 :
"I was an activist in the National Union of Journalists and in the National Abortion Campaign (NAC). A group of us went to raise the issue at a TUC meeting, but the union leaders wouldn’t let us speak. Ken Gill was in the chair. He was a longstanding leader of the engineering union and a Communist Party member. He wouldn’t let us open our mouths."
Is this still a common situation within Leftist organisations such as trade Unions? Do any comrades here have experiences like this?
I am particuarly interested to hear the opinion of Anarchists on this issue - would you oppose participation in existing political institutions and processes such as elections in order to try and change laws relating to abortion? I ask because, from what I know, Anarchists feel that doing so legitimises the state.
I have recently been reading about the difficulties that women have faced in trade union organisations when the have tried to ensure that their fellow members - especially men - recognize the importance of abortion and how limited access to abortion affects working class women. In Socialist Worker Angela Phillips, a notable abortion activist, wrote about her experiences in 1979 :
"I was an activist in the National Union of Journalists and in the National Abortion Campaign (NAC). A group of us went to raise the issue at a TUC meeting, but the union leaders wouldn’t let us speak. Ken Gill was in the chair. He was a longstanding leader of the engineering union and a Communist Party member. He wouldn’t let us open our mouths."
Is this still a common situation within Leftist organisations such as trade Unions? Do any comrades here have experiences like this?
I am particuarly interested to hear the opinion of Anarchists on this issue - would you oppose participation in existing political institutions and processes such as elections in order to try and change laws relating to abortion? I ask because, from what I know, Anarchists feel that doing so legitimises the state.