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SW Online's ongoing coverage and analysis
Abortion rights and women's liberation
SUBJECTS BELOW:
Attack on the right to choose
The new sexism
Should we look to the Democrats?
Fighting for liberation
LATEST NEWS AND ANALYSIS
Why is the right winning the abortion debate?
Abortion is harder to obtain for many women today than several decades ago, and support for the right to choose has declined.
Why Hollywood is afraid of abortion
Real women have abortions--but not in the movies, to judge from several popular and critically acclaimed recent films.
The abstinence-only lie
Jamie Lynn Spears' statement that she was "shocked" she could become pregnant says a lot about the ignorance about sex forced on American teenagers.
ATTACK ON THE RIGHT TO CHOOSE
The real Mr. Hyde's hateful record
The good news is that Henry Hyde is no longer with us. The bad news is that he left behind a legacy.
Battle in Illinois over new abortion clinic
Aurora, Ill. has become ground zero in the fight over women's access to abortion as Planned Parenthood faces right-wing opposition to the opening of a new facility.
Why abortion is crucial to women's equality
What all the restrictions and bans on abortion have in common is their attempt to tell a woman that the government knows best what she should do with her own body.
Supreme Court takes aim at abortion rights
The right of women to choose abortion suffered a serious blow when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a 2003 federal ban on a late-term abortion procedure.
Referendum would overturn anti-choice law
South Dakota vote on abortion ban
The outcome of a ballot measure that would block a legislative ban on abortions in South Dakota was too close to call in the week before November 7 voting.
What's behind Bush's obsession?
The right-wing crusade against stem cell research
During his State of the Union address, George W. Bush took the opportunity to plug an old favorite: opposition to stem cell research.
As Bush stacks the Supreme Court...
How can we save our rights?
In the past, even Supreme Courts packed with Republican justices had to respond to changing attitudes and the political demands of social movements.
An era of tragedy for women
When abortion was illegal
A look at the horrors of illegal abortion in the years before Roe v. Wade shows that women's lives are at stake in the right wing's crusade to end the right to choose.
The case for clinic defense:
"Legal abortion doesn't matter if you can't get one"
A San Francisco abortion clinic director explains why she supports a vocal, activist defense of clinics from the anti-abortion bigots who gather to harass patients and staff.
Poor women already pay the price
Chipping away at the right to choose abortion
Abortions are already becoming more rare in the U.S. with every new restrictive law--and with tragic results for women.
Victim of S.C. abortion restriction
Why did Gabriela Flores go to jail?
Gabriela Flores' case reflects a new level of madness among the anti-abortion bigots in South Carolina.
An issue of life and death...for women
Abortion is every woman's right
Stopping the anti-abortion bigots will require building a grassroots movement that defends the right to choose without apology--and doesn't rely on "friendly" politicians who have only made concessions.
Thirty years after Roe
The fight to defend abortion rights
January 22 marked the 30th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in the U.S. Socialist Worker looks at history of the fight for a woman's right to choose and the struggle today.
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THE NEW SEXISM
No, you're not crazy. It's sexism.
The way women are viewed in our society is warped and confused--treated as sex objects and somehow expected to take the blame for that treatment.
They call Katha Pollitt "too strident"
Giving no ground on women's rights
Katha Pollitt's new book caught some heat in the New York Times when the Nation columnist's "strident feminism" was characterized as "out of place--even tacky."
The grim consequences of "abstinence only"
New evidence shows that abstinence programs have contributed to soaring rates of unplanned pregnancies, out-of-wedlock births, and--yes--abortions.
"Post-feminism" or plain old sexism
"Post-feminism" is the phrase du jour among mainstream political pundits who criticize anyone who continues to complain that women lack equality.
The myth of motherhood and family today
The new "mom-ism"
In The Mommy Myth, Susan Douglas and Meredith Michaels drive a truck through the idea that there's a "feminist revolution" of women choosing to leave work and return to the nuclear family.
The facts about the sexist backlash
Facts don't get in the way for those who want to turn back the clock on women's rights.
It's not "kicking ass." It's not irony...
It's called sexism!
From Stripperella to the new Charlie's Angles, sexism is alive and well--and getting worse in popular culture.
Good riddance to Ally McBeal
Ally McBeal wasn't single-handedly responsible for the right-wing project of attacking anything that could be smeared as "politically correct." But the Fox TV show was a sickening reflection of the anti-left crusade.
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SHOULD WE LOOK TO THE DEMOCRATS?
The Democrats: Fulla-bluff-and-bluster
John Kerry's last-ditch scheme to block Judge Samuel Alito's Senate confirmation vote came only when it was clear that Republicans had the 60 votes to defeat a filibuster.
Why they aren't fighting Roberts
For years, liberal groups have collected millions with fundraising appeals raising the specter of a right-wing dominated Supreme Court. But now that the time has come to do something, they appear flummoxed.
The right wing's attack on abortion rights and the...
Liberals' deafening silence
Those "fundamentalist extremists" are at it again, trying to force women back to the Dark Ages. Christian fundamentalists, that is.
An argument to scare progressives into voting Democrat
What about the Supreme Court?
Democrats are recycling an argument about the future of the Supreme Court that progressives can set their watches by--because we hear it every four years.
What's at stake for women in Election 2004?
At the 1 million-strong March for Women's Lives in April, a young woman asked me, "So now what do we do?" It's the key question.
Huge turnout for abortion rights rally, but was it...
A march for women's lives or Democrats' votes?
The overwhelming message from march organizers wasn't that we need a new grassroots fight against Bush's attack on abortion rights--but that we should vote for John Kerry.
Is the left better off with a Democrat in the White House?
The politics of the "lesser evil"
It's a common-sense idea among people who stand for progressive causes that having a Democrat in the White House is better for our side. But the common sense is wrong.
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FIGHTING FOR LIBERATION
How will women be liberated?
When women and men join together in struggle, they come to recognize how little really divides them, and they find out how powerful they are.
Women's liberation and the fight for socialism
A new book of essays by Socialist Worker columnist Sharon Smith provides a much-needed socialist analysis of women's oppression.
The pessimism of identity politics
By "celebrating difference" to the point of accepting barriers among the oppressed and exploited, supporters of identity politics embrace their isolation from allies that could help in challenging injustice.
The racist hypocrisy behind the hijab ban
Is banning the hijab, the head covering worn by many Muslim women and girls, a step forward for Muslim women's rights--or more racist discrimination against the Muslim population?
Do Marxists reduce everything to class?
At the core of the Marxist tradition is a commitment to a socialist society that would end not only economic inequalities, but all forms of oppression and discrimination. But most people on the left today doubt that commitment.
Why the family oppresses women
The family is the cornerstone of women's continuing oppression in our society. While the relation between men and women has changed immensely over the past few decades, women remain oppressed.
Can we end bigotry through education?
Many people outraged by racism, sexism or anti-gay bigotry believe that the solution is more "education"--in the form of diversity programs, for instance. But can education overcome bigotry?
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