I am honored to be here with YOU TODAY-in this time of struggle, challenge and transition. The theme of this conference is Feminists Moving Forward-Our past is the Future

In terms of Reproductive Rights

OUR PAST is littered with THE corpses and butchered bodies of women and girls-SHATTERED LIVES AND FAMILIES-dreams deferred and denied.

when I SPEAK ABOUT ABORTION -FEMINISM IS THE THOERY AND ABORTION IS THE PRACTICE

When I speak about abortion--Women are the primary sources and the text is written in blood.

I remember the first patient that came to Choices. It was 1971 and New York was one of 7 states that had repealed their abortion restrictions prior TO ROE

This woman came from New Jersey because abortion was still illegal in that state-

SHE WAS TERRIFIED. She was pregnant and did not want to be- THE BACK ALLEYS AND THE COAT HANGERS WERE ONLY A FEW WEEKS BEHIND US

I COUNSELED HER AND STAYED WITH HER THROUGH HER ABORTION I DON'T remember her face. -OR HER NAME

But I remember holding Her hand IN MINE-her hand that became the guiding force of my life...AND WORK

FAST FORWARD TO THE PRESENT WITH ME AT THIS PODIUM

WHY IS THE RIGHT TO LEGAL SAFE ABROTION STILL CONSIDERED ONE OF THE HOTTEST ISSUES IN THIS COUNTRY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?

Why?

Because The act of abortion and choice is about power-it is women at their most powerful exercising the right of fetal existence-defining what grows within them as a welcome event or an overwhelming assault. Because abortion is women in their most radical stance-with the act of abortion women choose the results of their sexuality and assert a profoundly pro-active stance vis a vis their place in the world.

BECAUSE THE RIGHT TO REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOMTHAT IS THE FRONT LINE AND BOTTOM LINE OF WOMEN'S HUMAN AND CIVIL RIGHTS

-Right now-- 33 years after Roe our wombs remain battlefields and we are all soldiers in this generational power struggle against a movement that has been VERY successful in waging a guerilla AND FRONTAL campaign against legal abortion AND BIRTH CONTROL on multiple fronts.

from harassing patients in front of clinics, to marginalizing and killing doctors and clinic workers, to insuring that 87% of counties in this country have no abortion providers to bombs, economic pressures, evictions guerilla malpractice, legislation, to parental consent-waiting periods- winning of hears and minds to a bill that criminalizes a medical procedure for the first time in history-the so called partial abortion to the current politics surrounding the implementation of plan b -

the Anti-choice forces- the church \the state-the forces of regression AND REPRESSION move ON

in 1989 and I organized the first pro-choice civil disobedience action - AT the doors of St. Patrick's Cathedral where Nine people were arrested

AND AFFIRMED THESE PRINCIPLES;

Women are full moral agents with the right and ability to choose when and whether or not they will be mothers

Abortion is a choice made by each woman individually for profound personal reasons that no man or state should judge

The right to make reproductive choices is women's legacy throughout history and belongs to every woman regardless of age, class religion or sexual preference

Abortion is a life affirming act chosen within the context of women's realities, women's lives and women's sexuality

Abortion is often the most moral choice in a world that frequently denies health care, housing, education and economic survival.

STRONG PRINCIPLES-GOOD PRINCIPLES

SO HOW DO WE PUT THESE PRINCIPLES INTO PRACTICE

-how do we insure that OUR REPRODUCTIVE PAST is not our future?

Any woman having an abortion is political in the deepest sense of the word. Her feminism is forged in the fires of experience . WE MUST TRANSALTE THAT BIOLOGICAL IMPERATIVE INTO A POLITICAL ONE

Women who have had abortions should say so publicly and stand for that choice with their lovers, husbands and friends NO MORE CLOSETS

WE MUST DEMAND THAT THE POWER OF THE STATE STOPS AT OUR SKINS

We must fight for the constitutional protection of the this right-and at the same time fight the battles in each State as they arise

WE MUST NOT ALLOW THIS FUNDAMENTAL CIVIL RIGHT TO DEVOLVE INTO-a patchwork quilt of States Rights -FREE STATES AND SLAVE STATES

WHERE WOMEN ARE FREE IN NEW YORK BUT NOT IN NEW JERSEY OR MISSISSIPPI-WHICH THE ANTIS ARE COMMITTED-TO MAKING THE FIRST ABORTION-FREE STATE

We must STAND WITH THE PROVIDERS --UNDERSTNANDNG THAT THESE BATTLE ARE FOUGHT EVERY SINGLE DAY-not once a year with a March

We must change our politics from the defensive To the OFFENSIVE AND PROACTIVELY ENGAGE WITH THESE ISSUES WHEREVER AND HOWEVER THEY ARISE

AND WE HAVE TO BE WILLING TO SACRIFICE - putting our bodies and lives on the line

Two weeks after the murders of clinic workers Shannon Lowny and Leanne Nichols in Brookline, Massachusetts I VISITED to see where they were gunned down.

I made them a promise on that day and one that I make again today-

And I also make this promise to that first woman whose hand I held and to the daughter that has just come into my life AND TO ALL THE WOMEN WHO HAVE STRUGGLED AND WORKED BEFORE ME

That we - mourn - yes - but in the words of the immortal Emma Goldman we also organize - OURSELVES AND OUR COMMUNITIES - TO CHANGE THE WORLD FROM WHAT IS TO WHAT SHOULD BE

American women are privileged- Unlike the women in Russia or in Nepal, that I worked with. We have gained the right of reproductive freedom-BUT WE ARE ON THE PRECIPICE OF LOSING IT AND IF WE DO -IT IS IN THE MIRROR THAT WE MUST LOOK FOR THE REASON

WE MUST make ourselves strong - that WOULD BE THE only true monument.

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