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COURT SETS BACK CHOICE, 20 YEARS AFTER ROE

By Naomi Cohen

Just in time for the 20th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade
decision that legalized abortion, the Supreme Court has handed
down another reactionary ruling aimed at whittling away this
essential right.

On Jan. 13, the Court ruled six to three that an 1871 law known
as the Ku Klux Klan Act could not be used to protect women's
health-
care clinics from the organized, nationwide attacks launched on
them by the so-called Operation Rescue and other right-wing
anti-abortion fanatics.

The law was passed during the period of Reconstruction to protect
African Americans from KKK terror, but has rarely been enforced
against the Klan since then. Pro-choice forces in a number of
states have argued that women who seek to exercise their
Constitutional right to have abortions are similarly persecuted,
so under this law the federal government should step in to
protect their rights.

The Bush administration, however, supported Operation Rescue's
argument that women could not invoke the law to stop the
blockading of clinics, thus giving a political boost to those who
have continued to carry out illegal attacks on these health
facilities.

Justice John Paul Stevens felt compelled to write a strong
dissent from the Court ruling. He wrote: "The case involves no
ordinary trespass, nor anything remotely resembling the peaceful
picketing of a local retailer. It presents a striking
contemporary example of the kind of zealous, politically
motivated, lawless conduct that led to the enactment of the Ku
Klux Klan Act in 1871."

After it closed clinics in Wichita, Kan., Operation Rescue seemed
to have the upper hand in the streets. But its celebration was
short-lived. In April 1992, these bigots were handed a resounding
defeat in Buffalo, N.Y., by a coalition of organizations under
the umbrella of Buffalo United for Choice. Since then, the
anti-abortion forces have been repelled in a number of cities
they targeted for anti-abortion demonstrations, including
Milwaukee, New York City, New Orleans and Houston. Women's
organizations banded together to defend clinics against the
Operation Rescue blockades.

Many are pinning their hopes on the incoming Clinton
administration to reverse the reactionary tide unleashed under
Reagan and Bush. The new president could easily show where he
stands on a woman's right to choose. For starters, he could:
support a Freedom of Choice Act; reverse the gag rule that bans
federally funded family planning programs from providing any
information on abortion as an option; reverse the ban on abortion
services in overseas military hospitals for military personnel
and their dependents; and reverse the ban on the import of RU
486, a drug that could make abortions unnecessary.

Clinton supports Hyde Amendment

However, it should be remembered that Clinton is on record for
the Hyde Amendment, the racist law that denies poor women federal
funding for abortions. And he has not shown the slightest
inclination to speak out against the right-wing attacks on a
woman's right to choose--like bombings and chemical attacks on
clinics, intimidation of medical staff at clinics that perform
abortions, and various delaying tactics, like the 24-hour waiting
period enacted in a number of states.

Health care for women, of which abortion is just one aspect, is
in danger across the board--just as health care for all poor and
working people is at risk. The 20 years since Roe vs. Wade have
shown that only women and their male allies in struggle can
safeguard this fundamental right.


                               -30-

Copyright Workers World Service: Permission to reprint granted if
source is cited. For more info contact Workers World, 46 West 21st
Street, New York, NY 10010; e-mail: ww%nyxfer@igc.apc.org or
workers@mcimail.com.


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