Reproductive Choice
A statement by Mary Alice Herbert, Socialist Party Vice-Presidential Candidate
As a feminist and a socialist, I regard government regulation of women's reproductive lives as a last stand of the male chauvinism inherent in the corporate capitalist system we live under. The idea that women can not be trusted with these decisions would have no place in a democratic socialist society. Gender equity won't be achieved until women have control over their own bodies and the societal support they need for the choices they make.
We feminists are not "pro-abortion", but when women are denied information, access to birth control or are the victims of male violence, we believe they have the right to end an unwanted pregnancy.
Before Roe v Wade became law, only affluent women were able to find safe abortions when they needed them. Poor women were often killed or maimed by those they could afford. Now, this right is under attack by conservatives in congress who would like to see it repealed. This group has passed a ban on the so-called partial-birth abortion and refused to allow pharmacies to sell emergency contraception (the morning after pill) in the U S.
This desire to prohibit abortion is more about the control of women's place in the economy than about the stated goals of protecting unborn children. If caring about unborn children is paramount, why is this same group content to allow nearly a quarter of our nation's already living children to poverty? Why are their mothers expected to leave them and work for subsistence wages?
The Socialist Party-USA must must fight any efforts to roll back women's rights to reproductive freedom!
As a feminist and a socialist, I regard government regulation of women's reproductive lives as a last stand of the male chauvinism inherent in the corporate capitalist system we live under. The idea that women can not be trusted with these decisions would have no place in a democratic socialist society. Gender equity won't be achieved until women have control over their own bodies and the societal support they need for the choices they make.
We feminists are not "pro-abortion", but when women are denied information, access to birth control or are the victims of male violence, we believe they have the right to end an unwanted pregnancy.
Before Roe v Wade became law, only affluent women were able to find safe abortions when they needed them. Poor women were often killed or maimed by those they could afford. Now, this right is under attack by conservatives in congress who would like to see it repealed. This group has passed a ban on the so-called partial-birth abortion and refused to allow pharmacies to sell emergency contraception (the morning after pill) in the U S.
This desire to prohibit abortion is more about the control of women's place in the economy than about the stated goals of protecting unborn children. If caring about unborn children is paramount, why is this same group content to allow nearly a quarter of our nation's already living children to poverty? Why are their mothers expected to leave them and work for subsistence wages?
The Socialist Party-USA must must fight any efforts to roll back women's rights to reproductive freedom!
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