Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution (FCCPR) believes our government should be protecting the rights to freedom and equality for all, regardless of gender, race or class. We are outraged at the recent Supreme Court decision that eliminates the 50-year-old constitutional right to abortion in the US. State abortion bans violate the doctrine of the separation of church and state (the first amendment right to freedom of religion) based on the narrow religious view that the fetus is a person whose rights overrule the mother’s bodily autonomy rights.
FCCPR demands that our government’s policies support reproductive justice. This means measures that guarantee the rights of all, regardless of race or income, to parent or not to parent in economic and social conditions that allow for the raising of healthy children, as well as respect for women’s rights to bodily autonomy. The SCOTUS Dobbs decision allows state abortion bans to create forced births and income crises for families. They harm the women and pregnant people forced to undergo them, negatively impact their other children and their families’ future well-being, and disproportionately harm communities of color.
Abortion bans worsen gender injustice as well as economic and racial injustice. They will criminalize many pregnant women and those who help them. They force people in abortion-ban states to lose jobs when they must travel long distances to states where abortion is legal or to deal with aftereffects of dangerous self-induced procedures. More than half of US states are now poised to pass near-total abortion bans.
Most abortion-ban states lack social supports for medical care and have few welfare benefits for poor families. These states also deny workers’ rights to unionize through right to work laws and undermine voter rights by gerrymandering and other policies. Many of them permit the concealed carrying of guns, which can be used to promote vigilantism. They endanger abortion providers and those seeking abortions, LGBTIQ people and those promoting sex education and access to contraception. They also endanger those who promote fair, democratic elections.
We demand that the Democratic Party unequivocally implement our demands to protect our rights, our safety, and well-being, and promote gender, racial and economic justice. It must immediately:
1. Implement measures to rein in the present Supreme Court of the United States, which has made politicized, reactionary, and unconstitutional decisions on abortion rights, gun regulation, voting rights, and environmental protection. Policies and laws should include:
· Restraint of Judicial Review (restrict certain types of bills from being considered by SCOTUS). Article 3 of the Constitution gives Congress the right to limit judicial review on particular bills.
· Expansion of the Supreme Court per Sen. Markey’s Judiciary Action Bill of 2021. The Supreme Court has been expanded and contracted many times before, including by President Lincoln.
2. Overturn the Senate filibuster that requires a supermajority to pass a bill. A simple majority of the Senate can then pass laws protecting the rights of women and others.
3. Pass into law the Constitutional right to abortion and abortion access as well as previous SCOTUS decisions that guarantee the right to contraception (Griswold), gay sex (Lawrence), gay marriage (Obergefell), gay sex (Lawrence), and interracial marriage (Loving).
4. Repeal the Hyde Amendment which bans the federal government from supporting the costs of abortions for low-income people.
5. Place abortion and family planning clinics on federal lands in all states.
6.Expand education and access to Plan C (abortion through pill medication).]
7. Pass laws and policies at the state level that outmaneuver unjust Supreme Court rulings.
In a recent FCCPR meeting, members enthusiastically supported four actions that our organization can undertake: first, to work on getting the Massachusetts Congressional delegation to co-sponsor the Markey bill to expand the Supreme Court; second, to boycott corporations funding right wing politicians; third, to work with Massachusetts legislators to craft and pass laws supporting reproductive justice; and finally to sponsor postcard writing, phone banking, and texting to get out the vote for progressive electoral candidates. We also created a new Reproductive Justice Task Force to spearhead these campaigns. We urge those who support reproductive justice to join us, or to do these actions on your own. To get involved, write to Anne Ferguson at ferguson3638@gmail.com or Sharon Tracy at tracy.sharon@gmail.com.