Feminism

By Kerry Vernon

International Women’s Day began at a time of political and social upheaval more than 100 years ago, on February 28, 1908, when socialist women in the US organised demonstrations and meetings all over the country demanding women workers’ political and economic rights and called it “Women’s Day”. In 1909, 2000 people attended a Women’s Day rally in Manhattan.

[On November 21, a 100-strong abortion rights rally was held in Brisbane. The rally demanded the dropping of the abortion charges brought against a young Cairns couple, the repeal of all anti-abortion laws and free, safe and accessible abortion on demand. The rally was organised by the Pro-Choice Action Collective and supported by a range of organisations including the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, the Humanist Society of Queensland, the University of Queensland Women’s Collective, the Brisbane Rape and Incest Survivors Support Centre, Pro-Choice Queensland and the Union of Australian Women (Brisbane) and abortion rights groups around the country. The rally was addressed by Margaret Kirkby from the Women’s Abortion Action Campaign (NSW), which had organised a contingent to travel to Brisbane for the rally. Greetings were received from the Campaign for Women’s Reproductive Rights (Victoria) and the women’s collective of the Murdoch Student Guild (WA). The following is the speech delivered to the rally by Kathy Newnam on behalf of the Pro-Choice Action Collective. Newnam is a member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party. For more information about the Pro-Choice Action Collective, visit the Pro-Choice Action Collective website.]

By Kathy Newnam

A Cairns couple were committed to trial on June 11 on charges brought under the anti-abortion laws in the Queensland criminal code. The charges carry sentences of seven years’ prison for the woman for having an abortion and three years for her male partner for assisting her. The case against the couple rests upon their admission to having used an abortion drug.

By Sam King

The National Network for Women’s Liberation (Jaringan Nasional Perempuan Mahardika - JNPM) is an Indonesian women’s liberation organisation consisting of local women’s committees, coordinating bodies and women’s sections of labour, student, peasant and urban poor organisations committed to the liberation of women. JNPM aims to develop direct involvement of women in struggling against capitalism, patriarchal culture and militarism in Indonesia and argues there can be no separation between the generalised struggle of Indonesia’s majority poor population and the struggle for women’s liberation. On August 22 Direct Action interviewed JNPM national coordinator Vivi Widyawati, who will be in Australia in September and October speaking at public meetings organised by Direct Action. Widyawati is also an activist in the Committee for the Politics of the Poor-People’s Democratic Party (KPRM-PRD), a socialist party formed two years ago by expelled members of the leftist PRD.

By Kathy Newnam

A 300 strong protest was held in Brisbane on August 29 to demand the dropping of the abortion charges against a Cairns couple. The rally also demanded the immediate repeal of the anti-abortion laws under which the couple have been charged. Under the Queensland criminal code, a woman can face up to seven years’ prison for having an abortion (section 224), anyone assisting a woman with an abortion can face up to seven years (section 225), and a doctor can face up to 14 years for carrying out an abortion (section 226).

By Kathy Newnam

One of the few remaining US clinics that provided late-term abortions will close in the wake of its owner’s murder, the slain doctor’s family said on June 9. Dr George Tiller was shot dead in his church in Wichita, Kansas, on May 31. His clinic, Women’s Health Care Services, was one of only three remaining clinics in the US to provide abortion services in the third trimester. This made him and the clinic a long-standing target of the anti-abortion movement. The clinic had been picketed since 1975 and was bombed in 1986. In 1993, Tiller was shot in both arms.

Early in April, a Cairns couple was charged under the anti-abortion provisions in the Queensland criminal code. A 19-year-old woman faces seven years imprisonment for allegedly illegally terminating a pregnancy while her 21-year-old partner faces three years imprisonment for providing the abortion drug allegedly used for the termination. These charges are bought under laws that should not even exist. Premier Anna Bligh has told the media that the charges are related to the importation of the abortion drug, but if this were the case, why have the couple been charged under the anti-abortion laws? Bligh can’t speak the truth because these charges are indefensible. Abortion should not be a crime.

Join the campaign! Drop the charges! Repeal all anti-abortion laws!
Contact the Pro Choice Action Collective, Brisbane at prochoiceaction@gmail.com, or phone 0400 720 757 (Kathy).

By Kathy Newnam

A protest campaign has been launched in Brisbane against the charges bought against a young couple in Cairns under the anti-abortion provisions in the Queensland Criminal Code. The campaign was launched on May 9 when 80 people protested against an anti-abortion demonstration, blocking the anti-abortionists’ way to the state parliament building. The campaign, organised by the Pro-Choice Action Collective, is demanding an immediate dropping of the charges and the repeal of all anti-abortion laws.

By Kathy Newnam

On April 16, a young couple faced court in Cairns on charges brought against them under the anti-abortion provisions in the Queensland Criminal Code (sections 224, 225 and 226). A 19-year-old woman faces seven years imprisonment for allegedly using an abortion drug from overseas to terminate a pregnancy while her 21-year-old male partner faces three years imprisonment for allegedly providing her with the abortion drug. It is the first time in at least 50 years that a woman has been charged in Australia for having an abortion. The case will be heard next month.

By Dani Barley

“It’s time to bite the bullet on paid maternity leave” after “12 years of neglect”, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd stated in September. But the Rudd Labor government is now trying to renege on a national parental leave scheme in the forthcoming federal budget — citing the global financial crisis as the prime excuse.