HARING fREE ABORTON WIMAND A moman: From 11 am Central Hall, Westminster SW1 Tribunal Mobilising Committee c/o NAC, 30, Camden Road, London, NoW.1.
oration of wide forces who, while disagreeing on other issues, were willing to unite in action. in defence of abortion rights. This was a positive step forward from the endless ( and often non-productive) debates in the women's movement. Secondly, this unity allowed the campaign to draw in thousands more who would never have been attracted by 'academic' discussions on women's oppression but who were willing to seriously fight against a concrete aspect of that oppression that directly touched their lives.
The wide support NAC built up in months - registered in the number of branches affiliating nationaily - was, however, rapidly to be squandered. By the end of 1975, the White Bill had 'lapsed' and many forces in NAC thought that either the threat to abortion rights had vanished or that there was no longer any real 'focal point' around which it was possible to mobilise. Ignoring the fact that the government-appointed Select Committee was busy planning further curbs to the 1967 Act, groups such as the IMG concentrated on trying to 'link' up NAC with other issues, such as the 'cuts' on the NHS. From early 1976 onwards, the IMG in particular fought consistently against any mass action to defend - or to extend - legal abortion rights, stressing rather the priority of local work' around cut-backs in hospitals etc.
The result of this 'turn', over the past has been disastrous. While the anti-abortionists' rallies have escalated - and while the government Select Cttee has introduced new curbs - NAC has remained paralysed. Not only has it been unable to move out and win new forces to oppose the new attacks but it has lost many of its own supporters as local NAC groups, lacking a national perspective, have 'drifted' into other issues. As Red Rag points out: "The West London NAC" (for example "has extended its meeting into women's self-help and its work in the Charing Cross Hospital. In fact, many local groups are funnelling their meetings and activities in this way". This downturn from a promising beginning has 'grown' as NAC, under the influence of groups like the IMG, has turned away from the single-issue and lost any national thrust.
Mass Action Before NAC was formed, small counter - demonstrations were often called against the large SPUC railies. The women supporting them know how ineffective and demoralising they were. The mass SPUC rallies, on the other hand, had a powerful impact on government thinking. Appearing to reflect wide opinion, they were not only behind the James White Bill but, later, the creation of the Select Committee which introduced a number of restrictions against women's abortion rights under the 1967 Act.
One of the major tasks before NAC was clearly to explode this myth - to show that SPUC represented merely a small (if vocal) minority intent on imposing its reactionary moral views on the mass of women. The only way to do this, of course, was to mobilise mass support in the streets, thereby showing MPs that the majority of women would not tolerate any attempt to put the clock back. Calling for mass action on June 21st - which brought unexpected 25, 000 out onto the streets - was the first step in this direction.
Instead of building on this positive beginning -instead of using it as a springboard to organise ever-bigger demonstrations - NAC allowed the opportunity to slip between its fingers. The 'turn' towards local work (around the cut-backs in hospital facilities) meant that any perspective for mass action was gradually abandonned. Of course, this refusal to move out boldly was 'justified' on the grounds that there was no longer, after the lapsing of the White Bill, any focal point around which it was possible to mobilise new forces..
From June 1975 until the present, the majority of the Steering Committee (dominated by the IMG) opposed all calls for mass action. They opposed the LSA/IS call for a mobilisation in September of that year, despite the fact it was known well in advance that SPUC intended calling a mass rally. They originally opposed the call for a demonstration in April 1976 and that for one in late Autumn, counterposing to it the need for a trib -unal which was obviously inadequate as a 'focal point! for the campaign, In other words, for over eighteen months the Steering Cttee rejected the need for any form of mass action. Is it a wonder that this policy of inactivity forced many former supporters to drift away?
While NAC has remained paralysed, the SPUC forces have been given a free hand and have, of course, mobilised a series of rallies which must have further convinced the government that opinion is firmly on the side of the anti- & not proabortion movement.
Parliament One of NAC's major successes, in its early period, was the fact that it forced several MPs to stand up and fight the anti-abortion threats. It was a 'success' in the sense that these MPs, many of whom later walked off the Select Citee, carried on the struggle against the government in Parliament itself where the danger to women's NAC's aim should have been to continue linking up the struggle on the streets with that in Parliament as the best way of defeating the anti-abortion menace. Such a link-up could, however, only result from a mass action perspective. The group of MPs who initially fought the government moves acted not only out of personal conviction but because they felt the mass pressure of thousands building up outside demanding their rights. Winning more support in Parliament could only have come by NAC widening its base, mobilising ever-more forces to show these MPs that it was they - and not the anti-abortion bigots in SPUC - who represented majority opinion The fact that, in late 1975, both the TUC and Labour Party conferences came out in support of 'free abortion on request' could easily have given an added impetus to this process. By attracting ever-wider support from the labour movement for its activities, NAC could have put added pressure on MPs to make the government live up to the democratic decisions of conference.
When NAC began to abandon its mass action perspective, however, it began to lose any hope of winning this battle. By turning towards 'local' work, by downplaying the need for national demonstrations, it let these MPs off the hook. Or, more precisely, it abandonned them to the pressure of the anti- abortionists who continued to promote their mass rallies which had a significant impact upon the government. It was, after all, under their influence that the government, even after the 'fall! of the White Bill, decided to set up the Select Cttee which came out with a series of recommendations against the 1967 Act.
In other words, the paralysis of NAC over the whole past year has given the government a free
hand' in that it knew any anti- abortion curbs would meet with little resistance.
Leading Role There is no doubt that the curbs on the right to abortion witnessed recently are by no means over. Not only has the Select Cttee come up with a further series of restrictions waiting to be discussed by Parliament but SPUC is, itself, still working at eroding, if not repealing, the 1967 Act through a Private Member's Bill. The urgent task before NAC is how to begin, now, to combat the possibility of further curbs on the basis of going forward with the fight for a woman's right to choose ?
At present, when our limited abortion rights are under attack, our first duty is to unite to defend what has already been won. It is only by defending what has been won from the attacks of SPUC and its supporters in Parliament that it will be possible to go ahead later and begin the struggle to extend our rights. This means, to be concrete, ending the paralysis existing in NAC and leading a campaign both to rescind the curbs already accepted from the Selec! Cttee and any new ones it has in the pipeline.
Defending our rights means, however, not being 'sidetracked' by linking NAC up with other issues such as the cut-backs on the NHS.. ... We need to draw more and more women into struggle on a concrete issue of real meaning to them and not create a campaign on 'many issues' open only to the already convinced (as exists at present). If the proposed restrictions are not introduced, it will only be because thousands of women, on the streets, have shown their determination not to accept them. Nothing should prevent NAC from moving boldly out to draw these wider layers into action. To 'broaden! the campaign's programme will merely create internal friction, limit its appeal to these layers and show scant interest for those who will suffer most if the restrictions do The second task is to re-adopt a 'mass action! perspective. NAC has to move boldly out and pick up not only those forces which have drifted away but many new ones. For some, of course, 'marching, picketing and leafleting' are looked down as belonging 'to the realm of action rather analysis' (Red Rag) Unfortunately, lacked 'analysis! but it has been short on action for some time now and it is only action - mass action of thousands of women in the streets - that will stop any future restrictions in their tracks. There is no substitute for working out a concrete programme of activities for NAC nationally over the coming period which can culminate in a mass demonstration later in the New Year. Finally, we need to make greater inroads into the labour movement and use that weight to call on ever-more MPs to force the government to live up to conference decisions by scrapping any idea of further restrictions. It is by putting ever more weight on MPs to act that a broad coalition can be both inside and outside Parliament, to fight any anti-abortion moves.
NAC, in the early stages, was the most promising development to date to emerge from the women's movement. It won more publicity for women's rights and drew more women into concrete struggle anything previously. If NAC can break out of the Idead-end' imposed upon it by groups like the IMG - which has turned it into a shell of its former self - there is no reason why it cannot once again. take up a leading role.