April 11-12:
Actions Across the U.S. Take on the Attacks on Abortion and the War on Women
April 14, 2014 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us
From StopPatriarchy.org:
"Abortion rights are in a state of emergency, and headed for disaster. Already, women in this country who cannot access safe abortions are attempting to self-abort by inserting sharp objects in their vaginas, taking pills, asking their boyfriends to beat them up, and more. Others are being forced to bear children they do not want. This is the future for women everywhere if this war on women is not massively resisted and defeated.
"WE MUST ACT TO STOP THIS NOW!
"Forcing women to have children against their will is a form of enslavement. Abortion On Demand and Without Apology."
On Friday, April 11, a gathering in New York City brought alive the voices of women around abortion, highlighted the struggles of those who risk their lives to provide abortions, and dug into what is behind the war on women. This event was webcast live, and the video is available at right.
The next day, people in different cities took up the call from StopPatriarchy.org to "Raise bloody coat-hangers and break the shackles of women's enslavement." There were protests at institutions behind this war on women: Crisis Pregnancy Centers (anti-abortion "fake" clinics), churches that mobilize anti-abortion protests, etc. (Wire coat-hangers were used by many women as an instrument to self-abort when abortion was illegal. More than 5,000 women a year were estimated to have died every year from unsafe, illegal abortions before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion.) The Pledge to Defend Abortion Rights and Defeat the War on Women was read by groups of people at these actions.
Here are scenes from some of these protests. More coverage will be coming.
For updated reports on April 11-12 and next steps, go to the End Pornography and Patriarchy: the Enslavement and Degradation of Women page at revcom.us and to StopPatriarchy.org.
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