The Socialist Party, like many left-wing political parties in the United States,supports a woman’s choice to have anabortion. The party’s analysis of thisissue is grounded in solid Marxisttheory and represents the consensus of party members. However, someSocialists and other progressivesdisagree with this predominant position; we also base our beliefs onleftist ideology and a desire to promoteand create a socialist society.Unfortunately, the perspective of pro-life Socialists is sometimes met withridicule and contempt. The purpose of this essay is to dismantle the dominanceand dogma of some pro-choiceSocialists and to encourage discussionand diversity within our movement.This essay represents only the opinionof its author and is not meant tocharacterize the beliefs of all pro-lifeSocialists. The information presentedhere is offered in the spirit of a friendlyreminder to all comrades that we shouldaccept and love one another despite our differences of opinion.

For more information about

Socialism and the Pro-Life Perspective

contactJessica R. Dreistadt(267) 987-8907utopia@fruitioncoalition.com

A radical view and call toaction

Summer 2006

As a Socialist woman, I stand insolidarity with all who are

oppressed including people who are poor, people of color, people with disabilities, andthe unborn.Women and children are relegated to aninferior social status throughout the world.Capitalist societies, in particular, determinethe worth of women and children based ontheir contribution or relation to economic production and growth. However, the worthof women and children cannot be measured byany man. Women and children areintrinsically valuable and deserve everyopportunity and privilege available to men andwomen of means.Abortion reinforces this imposed inequality.Pregnant women who do not have adequatesocial and economic support become alienatedin our capitalist society. As Socialists, wemust support all women in need by addressingthe root causes of gender and economicinequality.Women often choose to have abortions because they feel stuck in an undesirablesituation. We must work to change theconditions that lead women to have abortionsrather than encouraging the womenthemselves to change and adapt to their situations.The pro-choice worldview reduces womenand children to material objects whose valuein the home and society is based, in large part,on male desire and convenience. When awoman chooses to end a life because of lack of male support, she and her child are victimto the patriarchy. Men who support a woman’sright to choose are also taking advantage of their ability to use women’s bodies and abusetheir relationships.A woman who has an abortion materializesand assumes ownership of her child to justifyher right to end his or her life. Mainstreamfeminists, now free from male domination inmany ways, put our children in an inferior social position - similar to the one womenonce held.When a woman chooses to have an abortion,she is subjugating the needs of her child andsociety to her own individual desires whilesupporting the opportunistic, money-drivenabortion industry. These are the hallmarks of acapitalist society.Abortion negates women’s ability to createlife, reducing the societal value of our unique physical abilities because they are considered‘inferior’ to the physical capabilities of men.Manipulating nature and its resources isdetrimental to environmental harmony anddisrespectful to the essence of womanhood.Abortion disrupts the natural flow and processof life and rejuvenation.Many Socialists are pacifists and as such wecondemn unnecessary violence. The taking of a life or the possibility of human life,especially when it involves pain,dismembering, and mutilation of a baby andemotional turmoil of a mother, cannot bereconciled with a belief innonviolence. Being pro-choice and pacifist are incompatible positions.Abortion is sometimes defended because the fetus is of a differentage, appearance, and physicalcapacity than a ‘normal’ human being outside the womb. When thevalue of human life, and its right tocontinue living, is based on thesesubjective qualities, the floodgatesto discrimination and dominationare opened.Abortion is always a compromise.Women and children deserve, andmust demand, real choices thatunconditionally meet our needs.

ACCEPT NOCOMPROMISES!!

Theabortion controversy will only beresolved through the eliminationof all forms of violence, sexism,discrimination, incomeinequality, abstinence-only programs, and corporatecontrolled healthcare (andeverything else) along withsupport for safe homes andcommunities, equitable resourcedistribution, respect andopportunities for all, adequatechildcare, comprehensive sexeducation programs, and easyaccess to birth control.