December 1 may well go down in history as the day the Christian fascist judges who now dominate the Supreme Court let it be known through their questions and remarks that they are willing to shred the constitutional right to abortion established nearly 50 years ago in Roe v. Wade.

There are some months before a decision will be delivered in the case the Supreme Court was hearing on December 1, which will determine the future of the right to abortion in this country (see here). During this time the “justices” will weigh—based on having tested public opinion through the arguments they made—which will be the basis for further restricting abortion, and how fast. The fact that people who support abortion rights were largely absent from the streets and that the organized pro-choice movement has been preparing people to accept a defeat in this case for months has only given more freedom for the fascists on the court to feel they can do this with relatively little political cost—and to pursue their agenda hard—with shock and awe.

The Stakes and Direction of Society

Forced motherhood is a form of female enslavement! As Bob Avakian, revolutionary leader and the author of the new communism, warned in 2015:

Unbelievable as it may seem, in the 21st century there are still people—including people in positions of power and authority—who are determined to force women to bear children, regardless of the situation, the feelings, and the better judgment of those women themselves. That is a way of enslaving women to the dictates of an oppressive male supremacist, patriarchal system; and that is what the cruel fanatics who are determined to deny women the right to abortion are really all about.

Reacting to the magnitude that a reversal of the rights of women to abortion would mean, constitutional law scholar Laurence Tribe compared this to the 1857 Dred Scott decision prior to the Civil War when the Supreme Court ruled that Black people had "no rights which the white man was bound to respect."¹

The comparison is apt. Not just in terms of the wholesale reversal of fundamental rights, but in the depth of divisions that now grip society. This country has not been so deeply divided—not just on the question of abortion, but on every major social faultline of today—since the Civil War. The Republicans have become a fascist party united around virulent white supremacy, militant male supremacy and an America First appetite for dominating the world—a party convinced that it won the last election and that only it is entitled to rule, moving to hold onto power by whatever means it takes in the next election. And these Republicans are mobilizing their seething, violent “base” behind this—to dominate the public square, including white supremacists and Christian militias that are no longer “fringe.” On December 1 the anti-abortion protesters were larger than those standing up for abortion rights; they crashed through barricades separating the two sides and got in people’s faces with ear-splitting sound systems screaming: “You deserve capital punishment!” “This is what happens when you allow women to emasculate men!” “God Hates You!”²

As Bob Avakian points to in “THIS IS A RARE TIME WHEN REVOLUTION BECOMES POSSIBLE—WHY THAT IS SO, AND HOW TO SEIZE ON THIS RARE OPPORTUNITY”:

These divisions among the ruling powers, and in the larger society, cannot be resolved within the framework that has existed, and has held things together, for nearly 150 years, since shortly after the end of the Civil War which led to the abolition of slavery—they cannot be resolved on the basis of the capitalist “democracy” that has been the “normal” means of capitalist rule (dictatorship) for so long.

Something radically different is going to replace the framework that has existed for all this time—and as the “Declaration and Call” sharply points out:

the crisis and deep divisions in society now can only be resolved through radical means, of one kind or another—either radically reactionary, murderously oppressive and destructive means or radically emancipating revolutionary means.

The hideous fascist future is clear for all who have eyes to see and are willing to confront what is unfolding ever more vividly each day—including through this barbaric assault on the lives and future of women. And those who have refused to see this need to snap out of it quick because pretending it is not going on only allows it to get worse.

But there is also the very real possibility to wrench something lifesaving and liberatory for all of humanity out of this madness: a real revolution! It is possible, precisely because of how deep the multiple crises now tearing apart society are, that millions of people who normally go along with this system can be sprung loose to struggle against and even bring this system down!

What We Have Going for Us

There is a huge potential strength we have going for us in this. The fury of women and all those who cannot imagine half of the country being consigned to being incubators, who feel the pain of women having to live in fear of men who seek to control them, who will not abide the tremendous hardship, torment and yes, the cruel and unnecessary deaths this will mean. This fury is now suppressed; it must instead not only be tapped but unleashed as a mighty force for real resistance and, even more, revolution. This potential is more earthshaking than you may realize in this foreboding moment, but it is being demonstrated all over the world by women in historically unprecedented ways.

And there is leadership that can give this expression and take this somewhere not only positive, but emancipating. Bob Avakian (BA) stands in contrast to all the self-proclaimed leaders who are telling you to accept defeat and work for some illusionary long haul of reforms on ever-shrinking ground within this system. BA is a revolutionary leader who not only sees a path out of this but has forged a strategy and plan to wrench a real revolution out of this situation and bring forth a radically new and liberatory society, as concentrated in the Constitution he has authored for the New Socialist Republic in North America. BA has taken the science of communism to a qualitatively new level, putting it on a thoroughly scientific foundation and advancing the scientific understanding of the decisive role of the fight to break the chains that bind women in the struggle to get all of humanity free. Right now, thousands need to be organized into a movement for a real revolution rooted in the new communism BA has forged, and trained and prepared to lead millions in carrying this revolution forward.

A Final Word

To the people on our side of this divide in society: Nobody wants the horrific future now knocking at our door. But the denial has to end if we are to prevent it.

You are going to have to stop looking away because the situation seems so overwhelming. You are going to have to stop telling yourself “nothing can change,” which is just an excuse that actually contributes to making things even worse. You are going to have to get the hell out of your illusory “safe spaces”—because there are no spaces that fascists respect!

No to all those illusions. Yes to truth and courage. Instead of letting the fascists have the public square to instill fear, everyone needs to pick a side and fight with the courage it will take to change this. Imagine if two million people, instead of just 200 people, had assembled in front of the Supreme Court. Imagine if they had stayed there for days instead of a few hours. Imagine if in the midst of that, a strong and growing force for revolution put forward the fact that this whole horrible future is unnecessary, that there is an emancipated world that we can fight for and a way to win it. Don’t you think that millions more would have to think again about what is possible, what is desirable, and what needs to be done to end this madness?

So, what is needed to fill the challenge posed by the ugly hearing on December 1? A massive outpouring of women and men who will not abide the barbarity of forcing women to have children against their will, whose determination and public defiance is part of waking  people up to where this society is headed in every dimension as we act together to determine the future we are going to get, and whose relentlessness is matched only by their quest to dig deep to the cause of the problem and fight for the solution it requires—revolution.  

The future is in the balance. Will it be enslaving or emancipating? That is up to us.

What is needed is you.