{"id":849026,"date":"2022-10-21T14:55:52","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T14:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dissidentvoice.org\/?p=134611"},"modified":"2022-10-21T14:55:52","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T14:55:52","slug":"us-abortion-rights-who-would-kill-the-gander-that-goosed-a-golden-egg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/10\/21\/us-abortion-rights-who-would-kill-the-gander-that-goosed-a-golden-egg\/","title":{"rendered":"US Abortion Rights:\u00a0 Who Would Kill the Gander that Goosed a Golden Egg?"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a><\/p>\n The suffering of US women under the iron heel of abortion is intensifying, especially for women of color.\u00a0 This makes it imperative to closely examine possible paths forward. As a teenager during the 1960s I witnessed two political paths that remain imprinted on my mind.<\/p>\n LBJ and 14 (b) <\/strong><\/p>\n Even before classes began in 1963, I had organized the first high school Young Democrats chapter in Texas.\u00a0 By 1964 Houston Young Democrats were attending rallies for presidential candidate Lyndon B. Johnson, carrying signs reading \u201cAll the Way with LBJ \u2013 Repeal 14 (b).\u201d<\/p>\n During the height of union activity several decades earlier, congress had passed the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA<\/a>, 1935) which guaranteed private sector workers the right to form unions.\u00a0 During the beginning of the Cold War and strike waves of 1945 and 1946, congressional Republicans (with the aide of multiple Democrats) passed the Labor Management Relations Act (1947).\u00a0 It placed limitations on union activity, most importantly Section 14 (b).\u00a0 The odious 14 (b) allowed states to pass \u201cRight to Work\u201d laws which prohibited unions from requiring dues as a condition of employment.\u00a0 Workers could benefit from union activity without paying dues, thereby seriously undermining unions.<\/p>\n \u201cRepeal 14 (b)\u201d became the rallying cry.\u00a0 Unions told members \u201cVote for Democrats.\u201d\u00a0 Despite LBJ\u2019s winning the presidency and having Democratic Party (DP) control of the senate and house, 14 (b) was not repealed.\u00a0 Nor was it repealed during several subsequent administrations having a DP president and majority in both houses of congress.<\/p>\n Unlike gatherings of 1964, today 14 (b) is so ancient that if you ask high school students what they think about it, you will get blank stares.\u00a0 DP power brokers have successfully dumped repeal of 14 (b) into the dustbin of history.<\/p>\n A Most Reactionary President<\/strong><\/p>\n Four years and a presidential election later Republican Richard Nixon was swept into office and was re-elected in 1972.\u00a0 Carrying 49 of 50 states, Nixon\u2019s re-election was one of the largest landslides in US history and showed overwhelming support for war against the Vietnamese people.\u00a0 Despite endorsement of his right wing agenda, more progressive actions occurred during Nixon\u2019s reign (1969-1974) than during any presidency since (including those of Dems): end to the Viet Nam War, start of the Food Stamp program, decriminalization of abortion, recognition of China, creation of Environmental Protection Agency, passage of Freedom of Information Act, formal dismantling of FBI\u2019s COINTEL program, creation of Earned Income Tax Credits, formal ban on biological weapons, and passage of the Clean Water Act.<\/p>\n When I recount this to my good DP friends, the response is something like \u201cYou can\u2019t credit that to Tricky Dick \u2013 he was forced to give in to the tremendous upheavals of his time.\u201d<\/p>\n Bingo!\u00a0 That is exactly the point.\u00a0 Nixon had to act as he did due to enormous social pressure.\u00a0 During a 10 year period, a generation of progressives had been exposed to two fundamental truths:<\/p>\n Logic of the Goose<\/strong><\/p>\n If the Dems win a majority of both houses of congress in November, 2022, a powerful force will make it highly unlikely that they will decriminalize abortion.\u00a0 This will be true whether the decriminalization would come from passing the Women\u2019s Health Protection Act (the easiest route, but vulnerable to a supreme court trashing), expansion of the number of supreme court justices (almost forgotten about), or a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the right (apparently unimaginable to the DP).<\/p>\n However, doing any of these would mean that abortion would cease to be a major issue in the 2024 election and make the re-election of Joe Biden virtually impossible.\u00a0 Winning in 2024 is vastly more important to the Dems than a setback in 2022.<\/p>\n As the Washington Post<\/em><\/a> noted, the DP has finally found an issue that might help them at the ballot box.\u00a0 But securing abortion rights in 2022 would remove it from the 2024 agenda.\u00a0 Abortion rights are the Dems\u2019 golden egg and they are not about to hatchet Mother Goose.<\/p>\n The task of DP politicians is NOT to bring better lives to people \u2013 it is to get elected.\u00a0 If promises to improve peoples\u2019 lives were kept, then the ability to make the promise evaporates.\u00a0 The true role of DP is to promise without delivering, while somehow getting people to believe the promise.<\/p>\n Each election cycle Dems scrounge around for a golden egg so they can chant their eternal refrain \u201cVote to get goosed or the Republicans will win!\u201d\u00a0 Dems yearn to have their cake and eat it too.\u00a0 They must dangle abortion rights in front of voters\u2019 eyes \u2013\u00a0 not actually win abortion rights.<\/p>\n Historical Reality of the Goose <\/strong><\/p>\n As every psychologist should know, the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.\u00a0 So, in addition to the Logic of the Goose, the history of the Dems regarding abortion helps chart their course.<\/p>\n During the last 50 years the Democrats could have written Roe vs Wade<\/em> into law during the administrations of Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton or Barack Obama; but never did so.\u00a0 As a US Senator, Joe Biden helped Clarence Thomas get on the US Supreme Court via his attacks on Anita Hill<\/a>.<\/p>\n When Hillary Clinton<\/a> ran for president, she chose anti-choice senator Tim Kaine as a running mate and said she was \u201cambivalent\u201d about abortion.\u00a0 Obama botched opportunities to replace Justices Antonin Scalia and Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the supreme court<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is what Margaret Kimberley<\/a> of Black Agenda Report<\/em> wrote about him: \u201cDuring his 2008 presidential campaign Obama promised to pass and sign the Freedom of Choice Act, which would have enshrined abortion rights into law, and remove it from the purview of the courts.\u00a0 But he did no such thing. On April 29, 2009 he gave a press conference on his 100th day in office and said, \u2018The Freedom of Choice Act is not my highest legislative priority.\u2019\u00a0 Obama had majorities in both houses of Congress and a veto-proof majority in the Senate.\u00a0 Not only was this legislation not his highest priority, it wasn\u2019t a priority at all. He never attempted to get it passed.\u201d<\/p>\n While the US waited for the supreme court diktat overturning Roe v. Wade<\/em>, Molly Shah<\/a> expressed irritation that \u201cthere is currently no cohesive national campaign from either the Democratic party or large reproductive rights organizations to fight back.\u201d \u00a0DP house leaders, including Speaker Nancy Pelosi<\/a>, supported re-election of anti-choice Texas rep Henry Cuellar over an abortion rights challenger.<\/p>\n Cruel and Unusual Punishment<\/strong><\/p>\n Stories of the plight of American women began showing up within weeks of the court decision:<\/p>\n Since the 8th amendment to the US constitution prohibits \u201ccruel and unusual punishment,\u201d (which is \u201cunacceptable<\/a> due to the suffering, pain, or humiliation it inflicts on the person\u201d) it is not exactly clear why it fails to apply to those whose only crime is becoming pregnant.<\/p>\n Abortion bans have even more severe consequences for those who commit the crime of \u201cbeing-pregnant-while-Black.\u201d<\/p>\n Knowing that women of color are three times as likely to be criminally charged<\/a> with abortion, it is reasonable to ask …<\/p>\n Abortion rights have a unique significance for Black women.\u00a0 During slavery, masters offered bounties for hunters who returned escapees to the plantation.\u00a0 Today\u2019s more repressive states reinvent this tradition by offering bounties to anyone who squeals on those associated with an abortion.<\/p>\n \u2026 as if They Depend on It <\/strong><\/p>\n At this critical time it is necessary to defend abortion rights as if women\u2019s lives depend on it.\u00a0 Because they really do.<\/p>\n More and more are realizing that rights have been won by disruptive actions rather than joining cheer-leading squads for unreliable politicians.\u00a0 Rather than being benevolently handed down to women, abortion rights were won<\/a> \u201cthrough mass demonstrations, teach-ins, takeovers and sit-ins.\u201d\u00a0 Judith McDaniel<\/a> recalls disruptive actions such as \u2026<\/p>\n Reviewing multiple social reforms, Paul Street<\/a> concludes that \u201cNone of these things were won simply by voting and\/or Supreme Court benevolence alone. They were more fundamentally won through mass popular resistance and disruption: strikes, marches, sit-ins, sit-downs, occupations, work stoppages, movements and movement cultures beneath and beyond the big money major party time-staggered big media candidate-centered electoral extravaganzas that are sold to us as \u2018politics.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n A funny thing happened when fact-checking for 14 (b).\u00a0 When I googled \u201cRepeal of Taft Hartley Section 14(b)\u201d\u00a0 the first link that came up was this very solid resolution<\/a> by the American Federation of Teachers.\u00a0 Scrolling to the bottom revealed this date: 1965.\u00a0 Think about that \u2013 1965.\u00a0 The date suggests that within two years of electing LBJ and his DP gaggle in both houses of congress, the union movement had backed down from insisting that 14 (b) be repealed.\u00a0 Oh yes, there are routinized statements now and again calling for its repeal, but nothing approaching a thunderous call for its repeal as a condition for unions to continue to support the DP.<\/p>\n With the watchdog snoring, the Dems back-stepped to a state-by-state defense against Right-to-Work legislation.\u00a0 Does this foretell an \u201cabortion-rights-in-some-states-only\u201d strategy for today?\u00a0 The DP seems to have given up on (or never initiated) a mass mobilization for increasing the number of supreme court justices, or a law guaranteeing abortion rights throughout the nation, or (too controversial to even consider) a constitutional amendment for protecting women\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n Though making a lot of racket at election time, post-election Dems will move to a cooling off period so women can adjust themselves to losing a basic right.\u00a0 But the iron is hot and this is no time to cool off.\u00a0 Not six weeks after the court\u2019s Day of Infamy, Kansas voters<\/a> resoundingly defeated an anti-abortion amendment to their constitution.\u00a0 Between 2010 and the 2022 court decision, the number of Americans saying all abortions should be banned<\/a> fell from 15% to 8%.\u00a0 During the same time period, those agreeing that abortion should be legal in all cases climbed from 18% to 33%.<\/p>\n Vermont residents will consider the Reproductive Liberty Amendment<\/a>, stating: \u201cthat an individual\u2019s right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one\u2019s own life course and shall not be denied or infringed unless justified by a compelling State interest achieved by the least restrictive means.\u201d<\/p>\n Missouri\u2019s residents also enjoy the right to amend the state constitution.\u00a0 It elects right wing politicians yet simultaneously passes progressive legislation.\u00a0 Missouri voters have repeatedly rejected Right to Work legislation and have approved shutting down puppy mills.\u00a0 Missouri voters gave the nod to medical marijuana and approved Medicaid expansion.\u00a0 This means that 5-20% of Missourians vote for progressive agendas while not voting for Democratic Party politicians.<\/p>\n (If you are registered to vote in Missouri and would help gather signatures for an abortion rights amendment to the state constitution, email gro.ytrapneergiruossimnull<\/span>@yraterces<\/span> or call 314-727-8554.)<\/p>\n The current struggle for abortion rights reminds us of the immense efforts for women\u2019s suffrage<\/a>, which was a roller-coaster battle requiring ongoing civil disobedience.\u00a0 Soon after the creation of the US, women lost the right to vote in New York (1777), Massachusetts (1780), New Hampshire (1784) and all other states except New Jersey (1787), which revoked the right in 1807.<\/p>\n Women\u2019s right to vote was first gained in Wyoming Territory (1869).\u00a0 Women lost the right to vote in Utah (1887) but regained it in 1896.\u00a0 Women\u2019s suffrage won in Washington state (1910), California, (1911), Oregon (1912), Arizona (1912,\u00a0 Kansas (1912), Alaska territory (1913), New York (1917), South Dakota (1917), and Oklahoma (1917).\u00a0 Women won partial suffrage in Illinois (1913), North Dakota (1917), Indiana (1917), Nebraska (1917), and Michigan (1917).\u00a0 The 19th amendment (guaranteeing women\u2019s suffrage throughout the US) was passed by Congress in 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920.<\/p>\n Two lessons stand out: rights which are taken away can provoke intense struggles to regain them; and, rights can be won at the state level as a critical step toward winning them at the national level.\u00a0 Working for a state constitutional amendment guaranteeing abortion rights can be a double-edged sword.\u00a0 The dull blunt edge can drag the movement into an abyss (like Right to Work) where it will be stuck for eternity if it abandons the goal of a national victory.\u00a0 The sharp edge cuts through the Gordian Knot as it walks the suffragette path of mass civil disobedience.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>The post US Abortion Rights:\u00a0 Who Would Kill the Gander that Goosed a Golden Egg?<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.\n This post was originally published on Dissident Voice<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The suffering of US women under the iron heel of abortion is intensifying, especially for women of color.\u00a0 This makes it imperative to closely examine possible paths forward. As a teenager during the 1960s I witnessed two political paths that remain imprinted on my mind. LBJ and 14 (b) Even before classes began in 1963, [\u2026]<\/p>\n The post US Abortion Rights:\u00a0 Who Would Kill the Gander that Goosed a Golden Egg?<\/a> first appeared on Dissident Voice<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[913,212,188,501,2828,11882,136,51,35,784,1369],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849026"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=849026"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":849027,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849026\/revisions\/849027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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