On July 25, the Senate approved the Interstate Abortion Bill, voting 65 to 34 to make it a crime to take a pregnant minor to another state to obtain an abortion without her parents’ knowledge. The bill would bar anyone, including clergy members, grandparents, and adult siblings, from helping a young woman cross state lines to avoid parental involvement laws. Violations of the law could include up to a year in prison. The law would exempt the young woman and her parents from prosecution, and exceptions would exist when there is a threat to the mother’s life.
Although the Senate approved this bill, large differences still exist between this bill and a much stricter measure
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Democrats are saying this recent Senate bill is a result of Republicans’ growing concern with sagging poll numbers as they approach the November elections. They assert that this vote is only a way for the Republicans to appeal to their right-wing, conservative base.
Democrats also have been commenting on how the majority of the Republicans in Washington couldn’t care less about “preventing” unwanted pregnancies or providing women with information that could possibly save their lives. The Senate voted 51 to 48 to reject an amendment to the bill drafted by Democrats that would have steered federal money to programs that educate teenagers about sexual abstinence and contraception.
While it’s true that Republicans are using a sexist agenda to whip up their right-wing base, this is only part of the story. Democrat attempts to position themselves as advocates for women’s rights is bogus and opportunistic. They have always refused to take a firm stand on abortion rights and women’s equality unless forced to do so by a movement from below.
This is because the Democrats and Republicans are managers for the same capitalist system. Furthering gender equality and reproductive rights for women is not in their interests. So, while Democrats may appeal to women by contrasting themselves to overtly sexist Republicans, their politics are no less sexist and unequal.
Abortion rights and women’s equality
This approved bill marks one of the biggest attacks on women’s reproductive rights in years. The real issue here is not about the rights of parents or the safety of “unborn” children. The Interstate Abortion Bill is a tool to further destroy the reproductive rights of women. It moves anti-abortion reactionaries one step closer to their goal of overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide.
Nancy Keenan, president of the liberal organization NARAL Pro-Choice America, has spoken out against this bill, calling the Senate vote “an irresponsible action that will do nothing to protect young women’s safety or improve family communication.” Critics of the bill also correctly point out that the bill actually threatens the safety of young women who come from troubled homes with abusive parents.
These are very important points that must be raised. But what the mainstream media and liberal women’s rights advocates fail to do is deal with the main issue at hand—true equality for women.
Democrats and Republicans alike discuss the issue in a cursory manner, but they never address the root cause of women’s oppression. Not one of them will ever reveal how the oppression of women not only serves capitalism but is a built-in requirement of the system.
In a world economy dominated by capitalism—production for private profit—the oppression of women has an economic basis. Having whole groups of people subject to insecurity in their personal lives erodes the possibilities for organizing for better living conditions—and, consequently, lower rates of profit.
Conversely, increasing equality and independence, whether it is in the workplace, in education, or in the basic right a woman has to autonomy over her own body means less profit for capitalists and those who serve them. More rights and greater equality for women means the capitalists are less able to exploit women’s labor.
Laws can be changed and rights can be taken away at any time, as can be seen with the Interstate Abortion Bill. That is why reproductive rights must be seen and fought for as part of the overall struggle for working women.
While passage of the Interstate Abortion Bill is disappointing to all those who abhor sexism and bigotry, the struggle is far from over. The large, well-funded national women’s rights organizations like NARAL and the National Organization for Women have relied too much on seeking changes through Congress and the courts and counting on forces in the Democratic Party to effect real change. They have failed to use their resources to mobilize the millions of people who support abortion rights and equality for women.
A strong, militant and independent movement of working class women and men can force the agencies of the government, the courts, and Congress to concede democratic rights to all the oppressed sectors of the working class.
