A Message from Sunsara Taylor
On the Occasion of a Support Rally for a Courageous Abortion Doctor in Opposition to the Christian Fascists Who Would Like to See Her Dead
June 26, 2013 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
Below is a slightly edited version of a statement sent by Sunsara Taylor to the support rally held on June 26 for the courageous abortion doctor who has been flying into Wichita, Kansas, to provide abortions to women who need them. This doctor has been "outed" by fanatical anti-abortion forces who have targeted her where she lives and works, a pattern that contributed to the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in Wichita in 2009.
Today's protest against a courageous abortion doctor and counter-protest in support of her are not two sides facing off in a "morally complex" and "never-ending" debate over abortion.
No. Today in Chicago, last night in Texas, and all around this country, we stand at a crossroads. Two fundamentally opposed futures confront women—and society as a whole. Either women will be forced to have children against their will or women will have abortion on demand and without apology and be treated as full human beings. And one side or the other is going to win.
On one side we have Eric Scheidler,* Republican senators in Texas, and Christian fascists across the country. They do not care about life or about babies or women. One big clue that gives this away is the fact that they all oppose birth control. They downplay rape. They attack science. They shame women. They terrorize doctors. By demonizing and targeting this doctor where she lives and works, Eric Scheidler is knowingly creating conditions for her to be driven out or killed. This is exactly what they did to Dr. George Tiller—a monumental hero who was assassinated on May 31, 2009 in his own church. Without providers there is no choice. And without the ability to decide for themselves when and whether to have a child free of coercion, shame or stigma, women cannot be free. This future is about the enslavement of women.
Concentrating the other future are the heroic doctors who understand that without the ability to get safe abortions women end up trapped in abusive relationships, women are driven into poverty, women are forced to foreclose their other dreams and life plans, women are chained into a role that they didn't want simply because they have a uterus. But this doctor we are supporting today is not only a courageous abortion doctor like so many others—she is one who stepped up and literally filled Dr. George Tiller's shoes. She said, "I will go to Wichita. I will defy death and threat and hatred and terror. Women's lives matter that much." And she is a young doctor—a model to a new generation.
In this way, when she is targeted it is not only she that is targeted—and when we defend her, it is not only her we are defending. The woman-haters want to send a message, that if you step out you will be isolated, demonized, terrorized, hunted, and likely killed. We must send the opposite message. If you step out to serve women you will be appreciated, celebrated, and DEFENDED.
More fundamentally, you will be backed up by a growing force of women and men who are fighting to create a world where providing abortions no longer requires courage, where everyone accepts that women are full human beings.
Ultimately, this will take a revolution—a revolution that gets rid of the capitalist system that requires and reinforces the oppression of women, along with many other forms of oppression, from the destruction of the environment to the imperialist wars to the slow genocide of mass incarceration that disproportionately targets Blacks and Latinos and more. This revolution is possible—get into it through the pages of Revolution newspaper (revcom.us) and the works of Bob Avakian, the Chairman of the Revolutionary Communist Party.
Let's be clear: there is no liberation for anyone without the liberation of women. And this battle for the right to abortion will not go on forever. One side or the other is going to win and that resolution is getting closer every day and right now the wrong side is winning.
Because what we stand for is in humanity's interest, if we tell the truth we can move millions—but nothing less is required and there is no time to waste. This is why StopPatriarchy.org is with you here today and why we are organizing a major Abortion Rights Freedom Ride this summer—from July 23 through August 25—caravaning from both coasts and down the middle of the country from North Dakota all the way to Jackson, Mississippi. This ride will rally support for doctors, expose and protest the Christian fascists, clarify right and wrong, and demand that everyone take a stand.
Join in welcoming this Abortion Rights Freedom Ride when it arrives in Chicago the evening of Friday, July 26. On Saturday, July 27, join us as we deliver the Forced Motherhood is Female Enslavement Award to Eric Scheidler in the form of a giant bloody coat hanger, as we hold an abortion speakout to break the stigma on abortion, and as we honor those on the front lines providing abortions.
This Abortion Rights Freedom Ride is a major nationwide effort—connecting up the life-and-death skirmishes like the one last night in Texas, today in Chicago, and throughout the country—aimed at rousing the millions and turning the tide. I call on everyone here to donate to this Freedom Ride, to spread the word of it, to step up and join in making this truly powerful here in Chicago and all across the country. You can do all of this at StopPatriarchy.org. Winning it is going to require serious struggle. Join with me—the future is at stake.
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To donate to the Abortion Rights Freedom Ride: www.indiegogo.com/projects/abortion-rights-freedom-ride
To get involved in Abortion Rights Freedom Ride: StopPatriarchy.org
To learn about real revolution: revcom.us
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Sunsara Taylor writes for Revolution newspaper (revcom.us), is an initiator of the movement to End Pornography and Patriarchy: The Enslavement and Degradation of Women (StopPatriarchy.org), and sits on the Advisory Board of World Can't Wait.
* Scheidler is the head of the Pro-Life Action League, a Christian fascist organization [back]
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