the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Nov 11, 2024
Women and activists have pushed onto the public stage a very frank discussion of the necessity of legal abortion as part of women’s reproductive healthcare. Resistance started immediately after Roe v Wade fell in 2022 and it has not stopped since.
This election season there were ballot measures in support of abortion rights in 10 states. In 8 of the 10, a clear majority of voters supported abortion rights. Even in Florida, fifty-seven percent of voters were in support. Yet the measure failed in Florida due to needing 60% support to pass. In Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri, Montana and New York, abortion rights DID pass.
The work involved in getting these proposals on the ballot and campaigning for them is both impressive and useful. Serious healthcare decisions that women have faced around the issue of abortion end up getting discussed openly instead of remaining hidden.
Yet the true societal change that working women need and deserve will require a massive social movement—something more powerful than legal changes to a state constitution.
Abortion rights were won in the first place only because tremendous social movements rocked U.S. society in the 1960s and 1970s. At that time, the struggle of the black population for basic human rights kept growing, encouraging a student movement against the Vietnam War. Soon women saw the need to organize and fight.
The next wave of social movements will need to pick up where all those fights left off!