Abortion Rights Are in a State of Emergency

Fact Sheet

April 7, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

Did you know?

Abortion rights are in a state of emergency, and headed for disaster.

Abortion rights in this country hang by a thread. It is urgent that everyone act now to stop this war on women. Forcing women to have children against their will is a form of enslavement. Abortion On Demand and Without Apology!

2011-2013

Two hundred and three abortion restrictions were passed on the state level; that’s more restrictions passed than in the entire preceding decade.

Clinics in Michigan, Florida, Wisconsin and Texas were attacked with explosives in 2011-2012.

2013

22 states passed 70 restrictions on abortion.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved a 20-week ban on abortion.

An abortion clinic in Indiana was vandalized with an axe.

A man attempted twice to burn down a Planned Parenthood in Missouri.

Another man was convicted of planning to assassinate an abortion doctor in Wisconsin.

2014

The last abortion clinic in the impoverished Rio Grande region of Texas had to stop providing abortions. Last year, Texas had 44 abortion clinics, and by September 2014, if nothing changes, there will only be six.

Houses of Representatives in West Virginia and Mississippi approved 20 week bans against abortion.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved HR7, the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion” Act.

A clinic in Montana was so viciously vandalized that it has been closed indefinitely.

47K

women around the world die every year from illegal, unsafe abortions

5K

women in the U.S. are estimated to have died every year from illegal, unsafe abortions before Roe v. Wade legalized abortions

41

states prohibit abortion at some point in the pregnancy

87%

of all counties in the U.S. have no abortion provider

6

states have only one surgical abortion clinic

8

abortion providers (doctors and staff) have been murdered by anti-abortion fanatics

RIGHT NOW...

Women across the country who cannot access safe abortions are attempting to self-abort by inserting sharp objects up their vaginas, taking pills, asking their boyfriends to beat them up, throwing themselves down the stairs, overdosing, and more. Of those who do not die, many are forced to give birth to unwanted children and are trapped in abusive relationships and/or driven (deeper) into poverty. Others are forced to carry the pregnancy to term only to be separated from a baby they cannot care for. This is the future for all women if this war on women is not massively resisted and defeated!

The week of April 28, the same Federal District court that upheld the clinic closures in Texas will rule on a similar bogus law which could close the last clinic in Mississippi.
In March, 2014, the Alabama House of Representatives passed a ban on abortion at six weeks, with no exception for rape or incest! This comes on top of: parental consent, state-mandated "counseling" and ultrasounds, mandatory waiting periods, and limited access to public funds for reproductive healthcare. Alabama is one of the poorest states in the nation, with 19 percent of women living below the poverty line.
In Mississippi, anti-abortion fanatics have told patients and clinic escorts to kill themselves, that they are “whores” and “sluts,” that women don't even deserve the right to vote, and other such garbage. In New York City, they accuse Black and Latina women of carrying out “genocide” against their “race”, they call women “murderers,” and spread lies about the “dangers” of abortion. This type of thing goes on at hundreds of clinics all across the country every single day.

AND WHAT DO
THE DEMOCRATS SAY?!

Hillary Clinton: “I for one, respect those who believe that there are no circumstances under which any abortions should ever be available.”

Wendy Davis: “I would have and could have voted to allow [a 20-week ban on abortion] to go through, if I felt like we had tightly defined the ability for a woman and a doctor to be making this decision together...”

...and Obama has repeatedly said he supports restrictions on abortion and “respects the views” of and seeks “common ground” with those who will not be satisfied until all abortions are illegal.

THIS IS WRONG.

There can be no “common ground” with those who are fighting for female enslavement. The fight over abortion has never been about babies, it has always been about control over women.

For far too long, pro-choice people have hoped that the Democrats or the courts would somehow stop this fascist assault on women. Too many people have remained passive, or funneled all their energies into supporting politicians who have openly promised to seek “common ground” with forces who are fighting for female enslavement. This is unacceptable. Seeking “common ground” has really meant ceding ground to this whole onslaught. Very much owing to this wrong approach of relying on official politics, for decades we have watched as yesterday's outrage became today's “compromise position” and tomorrow's limit of what can be imagined.

In reality, the future is up to us! This whole direction must be uncompromisingly resisted and defeated! This requires changing the terms by telling the truth: Fetuses are NOT babies. Abortion is NOT murder. Women are NOT incubators. Women need: Abortion On Demand and Without Apology! And it requires going out into the streets and waging massive, public, uncompromising, political resistance. We must rely on ourselves – and mobilize the outrage of others – to STOP THIS WAR.