Facebook
This past weekend I expressed my anger over the passage of the Stupak amendment. Now the Pro-Choice movement is organizing to, as the President wants, preserve the “status quo” or as some of the Pro-Choice movement call it, fight for “middle-class” women’s right to abortion.
Yep, they went there.
In my world, which is apparently an ideal world, feminists are united to protect all women’s right to access abortion services. Now, apparently, we have some type of advantage in our work because the “middle-class,” aka white women with a decent job, could get their abortion coverage taken away.
Let’s be real. The fight for the “middle-class” abortion coverage and the “status quo” completely ignores the fact that low-income women (as well as women in the military, women employed by the federal government, and women receiving care from Indian Health Services) have not had access to abortion since 1976 when the Hyde Amendment was passed. A fight for the “status quo” once again leaves these women behind. It’s sick that having a democrat in the White House and a super majority in Congress leaves us with this “status quo” compromise. So much for change.
As we move forward in our work to make sure the Stupak amendment is not included in the final healthcare bill, we must not do so with joy because all of a sudden abortion rights groups are doing their job. We must move forward with anger because the anti-choice member of Congress they allowed to get elected and the Democratic party they have refused to call out (until now) have put us in this horrible place.
We must be pissed that we have been negotiated down to the “status quo.”
If a health care bill passes with status quo language, we must remember it is not a win. It must serve as a charge to make sure that all women have access to abortion services. For organizations with c4 status, that starts with saying F the DCCC and start working with the PCCC because what ya’ll have been doing so far has not worked.
But I’m not holding my breath.
What gives me hope, however, is that from what I’ve seen of feminists from my generation who have been educated reproductive justice, we get the impact of class on our rights. Just because we all have the right to education does not mean we receive equal education. Just because we all have the right to abortion does not mean that we can access abortion. A lesson, unfortunately, that many feminists at the heads of organizations and in Congress either never learned or forgot. Luckily, we have elders, many of whom are women of color, who have taught us this lesson. I just hope we don’t have to wait a generation until all women’s access to abortion is realized.
