Reports, Photos and Plans for the Week of Action for Abortion Rights
IT IS TIME TO TURN THE TIDE!
Fetuses are NOT babies
Abortion is NOT murder.
Women are NOT incubators.
Break the Chains! Unleash the Fury of Women as a Mighty Force for Revolution!
Call to Join Week of Action to Defend Abortion & Defeat the War on Women
Coverage of Week in Revolution #293:
Sunsara Taylor in Washington, DC:
Fighting for Abortion on Demand and
Confronting People with
the Real Truth on All This
January 20-26, 2012, the Stop Patriarchy Campaign held a Week of Action to Defend Abortion & Defeat the War on Women in Washington, DC. There were also actions in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Correspondence from the San Francisco Protest on January 26
January 30, 2013
Do Not Settle for Celebration: Slicing Through the Smug Satisfaction of Those Who Would Turn Their Backs on Women Everywhere
From Alex Petersburg:
Stop Patriarchy! Bay Area started our day on Saturday, January 26, at the Trust Women / Silver Ribbon Campaign’s ”Celebration of Women, Life, and Liberty,” a decisively non-confrontational commemoration of the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Read more...
Responses to the question, "Why are you out here today?"
From a Revolution Correspondent:
A young woman we talked to had grown up homeless on the streets. She said she was here because she feels strongly that abortion rights must be protected. "I understand what it is to be unwanted. I was born to a family who didn’t want me and they threw me out of the house at 14. No child should have to go through that. I see what it has done to people and I know what it has done to me."... Read more
Stop Patriarchy Counter-Protest Against the Walk for Life (or what happens when you tell the truth about abortion!)
From a Reader:
The week I spent in San Francisco as part of the Bi-Coastal Mobilizations on the 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade was a struggle…in the best and most fun sense of the word! Leading up to the 29th, the day of the counter-protest showdown against the “Walk for Life” we went out to college campuses and street corners and got into it with people: The emergency of the right to abortion not existing for women in most parts of the U.S., the need to confront the reality of that and the forces that want to take us back to the Dark Ages head-on, and why it is important for people to understand that abortion is NOT murder if we are to win this fight. Read more
Speaking Out Against Patriarchy
January 28, 2013
A team from Revolution newspaper joined the Stop Patriarchy crew in Washington D.C. for the first couple of days during the Week of Action to Defend Abortion & Defeat the War on Women. During this time, we were able to talk with several of the volunteers about their reasons for coming, how they see the stakes of this struggle, and the things they were learning. Following are some of these interviews.
- "An Outraged Young Person" - volunteer from New York (posted February 4, 2013)
- "I had been wanting to join a movement, something like this, for a while" - volunteer from the UK, now going to school in the U.S. (posted February 4, 2013)
- "This is about women's rights in general" - a woman from the Bay Area (posted February 4, 2013)
- Abortion is Great! It Liberates Women! - volunteer from Chicago
- "Your voice matters, your voice has an effect on the world" - young volunteer from New York
- "You Can't Break All the Chains But One" - volunteer from New York
- "They've Been Told Not to Think" - couple who drove across the country to join Stop Patriarchy at the Supreme Court.
Uninvited from GWU Feminist Union Meeting featuring Terri O’Neal pres. of NOW, UNACCEPTABLE
Re-posted from stoppatriarchy.org, January 26, 2013
So last night, Stop Patriarchy was uninvited from the George Washington University Feminist Union meeting. REALLY!? We were initially invited to this event, in fact enthusiastically invited, but tonight, after being out in the streets fighting for abortion rights all week and challenging the status-quo on what needs to be done in terms of abortion rights and the entire war on women, the GWU Feminist Student Union—in consultation with their speakers, it seems—deemed us too radical, and shut us out entirely. This is completely unacceptable.
San Francisco, Saturday Jan 26:
All Out to protest the "Walk for Life"
Rise Up for Abortion Rights On the 40th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade: WE WON'T GO BACK!
- 10am - Justin Herman Plaza, SF
Mobilize attendees of SF's celebration of women's right to abortion to confront the war on women and protest the "Walk for Life" at 1 pm. - 12pm - UN Plaza, SF
Rally to Oppose the "Walk for Life" - 1pm - Powell & Market, SF
Protest and Confront the "Walk for Life"
Bay Area Revolution Club and Friends
Snapshot of a Dinner in the 'Hood!
After a weekend of fundraising, the Revolution Club along with friends and neighbors (and their children) had a dinner together at a local small Mexican restaurant. The dinner was 2-fold: to see where we are in relation to fundraising for BAE and also very importantly building a contingent to protest the woman haters who are coming to town on the next weekend. As an added treat, we listened to the Michael Slate interview with BA #2!
Day 4 In DC:
Fighting for Abortion On Demand And Confronting People with the Real Truth On All This
We've been out on the street as much as the weather will allow—fingers and toes become painful and then numb within half an hour in this subfreezing weather, even with those amazing toe and hand warmers.
Yesterday, after our crew had counter-protested the anti-abortion fanatics at the local Planned Parenthood (shamefully, Planned Parenthood staff came out and insisted that our side stay away—a request we ignored because of how unconscionable it is to allow the Christian fascists to stand unopposed!), we went out to a college campus. We were decked out in bright stickers and signs sticking out of our backpacks which read, “Abortion on Demand and Without Apology!”
From San Francisco January 25th:
Sunsara Taylor Interviewed on KPFA's morning Project Censored show - listen here
Saturday Jan 26:
All Out to Protest the "Walk for Life"
The Pope and the movement for forced motherhood
Getting Ready to Protest the "Walk for Life"
Making Banners in the San Francisco Bay Area
Stop Patriarchy—LIVE FROM DC, Day 2:
Standing Up for Abortion at the Supreme Court, Taking on the Anti-Abortion Bullshit, and Challenging the Deadly Reliance on the Democrats of the “Pro-Choice” Movement
by Sunsara Taylor
We spent most of yesterday at the Supreme Court for the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. We began by honoring the doctors and providers who risk their lives every day to provide women with abortions.
We read statements from some of these doctors as passersby paused to listen. Behind us was a droning voice of a hate-filled anti-abortion fanatic (he later called one of our leaders, “Bitch!” and threatened to “knock [her] out”). Off to the side were a hundred or more anti-abortion activists praying in small circles or kneeling in prayer before the Supreme Court. The whole backdrop only underscored the heroism of the providers who actually give women abortions—and how essential it is to honor them. All too often, they are accompanied and called out by name and known only by those who hate them.
Stop Patriarchy at Supreme Court, January 22, 2013, 40th anniversary of Roe v Wade .
Photo: Li Onesto/Revolution
Roe v. Wade Battle Update - SF Bay Area
Actions on Wednesday, January 23
January 24, 2013
Updated Information on the Saturday, January 26 Protest
January 24, 2013
“Walk for Life” – Your Name’s a Lie!
January 24, 2013
Dennis Bernstein, Pacific Radio, KPFA, interviews Sunsara Taylor and Alex Petersburg from Stop Patriarchy
January 22, 2013
SF Bay Area Actions for Week of Action to Defend Abortion & Defeat the War on Women
January 22, 2013 - Day Two - Bay Area. Stop Patriarchy Bay Area delivered a powerful, visual press conference in front of City Hall to call people into the streets to counter the “Walk for Life” (Walk for Forced Motherhood) on Saturday. While the statement below was delivered, two women stood in chains with bright orange “A”s emblazoned on their chests to symbolize the shame and stigma heaped on women for exercising the fundamental right of getting an ABORTION. At the end of the statement, they proudly “broke the chains,” broke their silence, and raised signs demanding “Abortion on Demand & Without Apology!”
NBC news report: "Roe v. Wade anniversary sparks dueling protests"
January 22, 2013
Watch the NBC report on the Roe v Wade anniversary, and coverage of Stop Patriarchy at the Supreme Court.
Confronting the Anti-Abortionists at the Steps of the Supreme Court
Washington, DC, January 22—On the second day of the week of action to fight for the right to abortion, the End Pornography and Patriarchy: The Enslavement & Degradation of Women campaign took on the Christian fascist anti-abortion movement right in front of the U.S. Supreme Court. The Christian Defense Coalition and other anti-abortion groups were holding a press conference on the 40th anniversary of Roe v Wade, putting out their hateful, anti-scientific, and anti-women message before major media. But no way they were going to go unchallenged! Women and men from the End Pornography Campaign stepped forward with “Abortion on Demand & Without Apology” signs, right into the circle of anti-abortionists who were addressing the cameras and kneeling in prayer, totally upstaging the reactionary talking heads. The activists, in clear and determined voices, declared that losing the right to abortion means condemning generations of women and girls to forced motherhood and lives of open terror and enslavement. At a time when, as Sunsara Taylor said, “the stark reality is that despite its formal legality, abortion is more stigmatized, more dangerous to provide, and more difficult to access than at any time in the last 40 years”—this was a bold and inspiring action.
Washington, DC, January 21, 2013. A team from Revolution newspaper went to Washington, DC to hook up with and cover the week of action called by the End Pornography and Patriarchy campaign to fight for abortion rights on the 40th anniversary of Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. (Go to revcom.us and to stoppatriarchy.org for more on the week of action, which is taking place in DC and in the SF Bay Area.) Monday, January 21, was the inauguration day, and we joined the demonstration called by World Can’t Wait and other groups to call out Obama’s crimes, especially the U.S. war by drones that has killed hundreds, including many children, in various countries. Later, the Revolution team and the crew from the End Pornography and Patriarchy campaign went out to the streams of people who were heading out to Obama’s inauguration parade. Included in the reports from this first day are photos and blog posts. Check back at revcom.us for new updates during the rest of the week.
Several hundred people joined Arc of Justice in Washington D.C. 
Stand Up for Women! Join Us in Washington D.C.
January 21, 2013. We have arrived in Washington DC! Stop Patriarchy burst out on the scene in a big way on our first day out in DC. We started bright and early at an anti-war rally which lead to a march towards the White House where masses of people were arriving in waves to hear President Obama’s inaugural speech. Our contingent was small, but the message was heard loud and clear.
Building for "WE WON'T GO BACK! Protest the 'Walk for Life'" in the SF Bay Area
January 21, 2013. The "Walk for Life West Coast" is a mass mobilization of anti-abortion activists from around the country that will descend for the 9th time on San Francisco and take to the streets with their doctored photos of stillborns, dehumanizing polarization of women as either incubators or murderers, and all the messages of objectification, enslavement, shame, and condemnation that typifies this front of the War on Women.
Read more about reports and events in the Bay Area to defeat the War on Women.
A Central
Question of
the Revolution
A Declaration: For Women's Liberation and the Emancipation of All Humanity
Unresolved Contradictions, Driving Forces for Revolution
by Bob Avakian
BAsics 3:22
PDF for print | JPG for web
Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America (Draft Proposal)
AUDIO: Question and Answer session with Bob Avakian—the difference between eroticism and pornography