Pat Taub
This weekend I saw the powerful film, “Women Talking,” about life in a male-dominated religious community, where the women are powerless. Sexual assault by the men runs rampant. Women and girls are raped in their sleep, frequently becoming pregnant. When their victimhood becomes unbearable, a few of the women meet secretly to weigh their options, fighting back by making the brave decision to escape with their children.
Scene from “Women Talking” where the women secretly retreat to a hay loft to discuss their options
Walking home from the theater, and reflecting on the movie, I was struck by the relative passivity American women have demonstrated in response to last summer’s Supreme Court Dobb’s decision, which reversed Roe v. Wade, making abortion illegal. Over and over, I asked myself, “Why aren’t American women fighting back?”
What happened to the daring we showed during the second wave of Feminism? It was a time of nationwide street protests and sit-ins that led to abortion rights, workplace equity and other important gains for women.
Women marching for abortion rights in the 1970’s
The pro-abortion movement in 2023 has morphed into a tepid campaign to elect pro-abortion candidates. Why do they persist with operating as if change happens at the ballot box when it never has? All the major social gains in this country came from organized street protests that never let up until their goals were met. A few examples are the outlawing of child labor, Social Security, the federal minimum wage, union organizing, and yes, legal abortions.
While American women have been sleep-walking their protest, the Right has been working overtime to erase abortion rights nationally. At present 14 states, mostly in the South deny abortions, even in cases of rape or when the mother’s life is in danger. This list is growing as more and more Conservative-led states are introducing anti-abortion legislation.
Pro-life Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith (R, Miss.) recently introduced legislation to ban Planned Parenthood from receiving State Medicaid funds
If this weren’t bad enough, a Republican lawmaker in Texas, has introduced a bill called the “Women’s Health and Safety Act” to force internet providers to block abortion pill websites.
Momentum is with the Right. Just last week Walgreens announced it will not distribute the abortion pill, Misoprostol, in a whopping 24 states–including states where abortion remains legal.
That’s despite the fact that the abortion pill has been approved by the FDA for more than two decades. But under pressure from the anti-abortion lobby and right-wing attorneys general, Walgreens caved.
This is a devastating blow to abortion access. More than half of all abortions in the U.S. today are done using the abortion pill, and it’s been an especially critical lifeline for people in states where abortion has been banned.
Now, right-wing Republicans are pressuring other chains, including CVS, Albertsons, Rite Aid, Costco, Walmart, and Kroger, to stop providing the abortion pill as well.
When did Feminists lose their fire?
It’s almost embarrassing when I think of women’s protests in far more patriarchal societies like Iran, where women protesters risked their lives by burning their hijabs. American women aren’t risking their lives if they take to the streets, while their silence risks the lives of poor women in states where abortion is illegal, raising the odds of back-room abortions that could result in death.
Women in Iran burning their head scarfs
In the film, “Women Talking,” a major factor in their decision to flee their oppressive community was for the safety of their daughters and granddaughters. When did we stop fighting for future generations? Don’t we have a responsibility to protect them?
While I’m disappointed with many in my generation, I find hope among younger women, like those who have organized Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, an on-fire abortion rights organization with the manifesto:
“If we leave this to Congress, the Courts, and State Legislatures and do not fill the streets with people determined to stop this, then there is virtually no hope for stopping this assault.
Members of Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, adopting the green color of the Mexican abortion rights movement
More from Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights:
NOW is the time to hold nothing back. NOW is the time to rouse thousands and soon millions in struggle so that we can look every woman and girl in the eye with the promise in word and deed that they will have a future as full human beings. NOW is the time to stand up, together, as if our lives depend upon it—for, in fact, they do.
