On February 11th so called “pro-life” organizations, have coordinated a national day of action for their campaign to “Defund Planned Parenthood.”http://protestpp.com/
A group named “Pro-Life Future NYC” intends on protesting at the Planned Parenthood – Margaret Sanger Center at 26 Bleecker Street.
We refuse to let them go unchallenged! In response to this heinous bigotry we are organizing a counter-rally to make sure they know NYC stands for access to full reproductive rights. Planned Parenthood NYC has stated that they would prefer other forms of responses to this campaign rather than standing in direct opposition with the right-wing protesters. To that we say thank you Planned Parenthood for the quality healthcare services you provide to working class and poor woman in our communities, yet when is comes to politics and tactics we trust ourselves to make the best decision on how to defend our rights. For that reason an ad-hoc group of women and allies held a meeting (to which PP was invited) to discuss next steps. Everyone was in agreement that we have to fightback against these attacks.
The campaign to “Defund Planned Parenthood” is a calculated effort toward reaching the rights goal of overturning Roe v. Wade and completely eliminating access to reproductive healthcare. From the moment we won abortion in 1973, the right-winger have worked tirelessly to repeal it. They have been so successful in crippling and degrading our rights that 338 new abortion restrictions have been enacted since 2010.
It would be a mistake for us to think that in New York City reproductive rights are safe from attack. We must see this attack for what it is, a continuation and amplification of the war on woman. From destroying our right to a choice, to restricting of access to birth control, to valuing our work less than a man’s and weakening laws with protections for partner-violence- and the list goes on. We cannot afford to sit quietly and hope for the best. The time for action is now and come out in force to defend the rights we fought so hard to obtain.
Nathalie Baptiste writes in her article “10-Year-Old Rape Victim Denied Abortion: The Horrific Realities of Abortion Bans”: “In Paraguay, a 10-year-old rape victim is denied an abortion—even though her stepfather is her attacker. In El Salvador suicide is the cause of death for 57 percent of pregnant females between the ages 10 to 19. In Nicaragua, doctors are anxious about even treating a miscarriage. All of these instances are the result of draconian abortion laws that have outlawed critical reproductive care.”
http://www.alternet.org/
This is not “pro-life”- this is forced motherhood. We won’t stand for it. And we absolutely WON’T GO BACK to the days of back alley butchers. We still stand in defense of safe and legal abortion. It’s time to resurrect the call for FREE ABORTION ON DEMAND coupled with the ferocity of a reinvigorated women’s movement ready to fight for it.
Come out to take a stand against the right-wing, anti-woman bigots on Saturday, February 11th and beyond. Our strength is in numbers, please share widely!!!