APL on Roe V. Wade: Defend Our Communities From Organized Reaction
From the Members and Secretariat of the American Party of Labor
Leaked documents have revealed what women’s rights activists have long feared from the Trump-stacked, undemocratic Supreme Court: a draft opinion to repeal Roe V Wade, the 1973 ruling that protected women’s right to abortion. It comes after a prolonged national effort by the Republican party to challenge Roe V Wade and limit the rights of women living in “red states.”
It is important to consider the context in which this attack occurs. This is not yet another resuscitation of the tired, religiously-motivated arguments over when life begins. This is a direct reaction to the leading position women took in the largest street demonstrations in the history of the country in 2017’s Women’s March, and during the revolutionary George Floyd movement of 2020. Faced with a growing movement that openly confronts the intersections of American capitalism, from white supremacy and police brutality, to wage gaps, to unpunished abuse, and cultures of harassment, the right wing has attacked education, the LGBTQ+ community, our right to protest, and a woman’s right to choose. These attacks fall disportionately on the working class, who, in the case of abortion, do not have money to travel long distances to get the safe treatment they need in a state that has protected abortion rights.
We expect the right wing to make these attacks. What we can no longer accept is the failure of reform in addressing these issues. Facing these threats, the revolutionary fervor of the George Floyd and Women’s March moments has been squandered on electoral campaigns that continue to fail the people of the United States. This latest attack makes it clear for all: the solution to the crises of capitalism, and the continued assault on women’s rights, will never be found in reform or within the Democratic Party. Women came out and supported Biden’s electoral campaign in record numbers, but still he has failed to legislate or even advocate in defense of abortion. This cannot stand.
The issues that dominate our life, that indeed dictate the trajectory of the lives we lead, cannot teeter on the lifespan of a supreme court judge, or the whim of two party political shifts. As working class women and workers, we can no longer funnel our resistance into random street marches. We need guided, thoughtful action that doesn’t walk alongside the system, but actively seeks to halt it from working.
The George Floyd and Women’s March movements transformed American politics and showed the power of the people. But every time that power grows, the ruling class will rise to undermine it, from the health clinic to the schoolyard. This weekend, the American Party of Labor calls on all people who support true democracy and working class rights, to take to the streets and demand that Roe V Wade be upheld. We know the right will continue to attack the rights of working people, and it falls on us to no longer settle for reformist diversions, and fight for a world in which every person has total control of their destiny.