Toni Gorton is correct to point out the need for a firm orientation both to Labour MPs and to Parliament. Other groups on the Steering Committee of the National Abortion Campaign such as the International Socialists try to sidestep this question. They fail to understand that the majority of the working class still have great illusions in Parliament, and in the Labour Government in particular.
We agree absolutely with her on the need to demand that those MPs who claim to defend abortion rights should work in the interests of the mass move ment. We agree also that this means not just demanding that they support initiatives outside Parliament.
We also insist that they speak and vote in Parliament against every manoeuvre by the anti-abortionists, every эттето, о сит back on taclities. ve demand that they use Parliament as a tribune trom which to tiant betore the masses for the implementation of TUC and Labour Party policy against the idea that abortion is a matter of conscience for the individual.
On all this we can agree with Toni Gorton, Where her letter is ambiguous Is on an overall strateoy wien can intecrate and compine nese elements. clantying tne nature of the tactica choices which confront us at each stage.
Our conception is very clear. We say that NAC's demand for "free abortion on demand - a woman's right to choose can only be guaranteed through working class action and control, in which women will naturally play a leading role. We fight to defend and extend parliamentary lecis auon ensenino TIs ront - demancine une removal or all Labour virs wno retuse to imoiement workine class policy on unis cuestion -out we nave no musions nat inis is where the struggle will be settled.
The IMG saw the resignation of the MPs as resulting from the mass pressure which NAC had played a leading part i cenerating. Our proposal for an 'alternative' Tribune to the Select Committee does not at all mean tnat we are walking away from the fight in Parliament. On the contrary, it can represent an intensification of that fight — if it is linked to the task of developing a coherent extra-parliamentary It is not at all clear that Toni GorTon snares inis conceotion. on the contrary, at several points in her letter she implies that NAC should adopt a much more central orientation towards Parliament: building mass action, but essenTally onentino i solely towaros a bar Hamentary oblective.
ns is succested barticularivov nen statement: Democratic reforms are won rom rariament Inrouon mass action or DODIE WEPPLER (IMG member of Steering Committee) replies: fear of it) on the streets." It is also implicit when she says that to organise an 'alternative' Tribunal to the Select Committee 'refuses to take on the fight where it is; or when she appears to see a campaign for facilities and against the cuts • o counterposta to une neec to cerenc the '67 Act.
Lets Just look at wnat we mean Dy defending the '67 Act as an example our conception or tne campaion. whicr aims to put the decision of abortion in une nands or women.
Is this Act under attack? Undoubtedly. In Parliament? Yes. But if the hard-line anti-abortion rump led by James White and Leo Abse succeed in pushing through their parliamentary offensive, this will only put the seal on the widespread sabotage of the Act which has been taking place ever since 1967. And they will only succeed if that sabotage goes unchallenged.
What does this present sabotage consist of? As we pointed out in the 1 April centre-spread, it is taking piace on two fronts: a refusal by reactionary gynaecologists to carry out abortions under the Act, and turther cutbacks in already inadequate tacilities.
How can this sabotage be combated? The Tribunal we propose will be able to draw together all sorts of experiences pinpointing the need not merely to defend but to extend the right to abortion embodied in the '67 Act. It wi diso nave to pose une need tor working class action to unis eno. a fight to oust gynaecologists who refuse to carry out abortions, campaigns to halt cutbacks in facilities and extend them instead, and of course central mobilisations around the theme of a woman's right to choose.
Such moves will directly challenge the right of Parliament and the medical hierarchy to determine who gets an abortion. They will demonstrate the need for the working class to take con trol in order to quarantee women Inis right. In other words. the orcanisation of the working class independent from the State is for us the central concern.
And by putting Labour MPs on the spot Detore those who elected them such action will do more to throw back the flood of reactionary legislation projected by Abse and co. than any amount of effort directed exclusively towards Parliament.
The point about the MPs' resignation from the Select Committee is that It otters a tremendous opporunity To chanence rarliament and tne Ladour Government as the arbiter of women's fate and take the issue to the millions who have a direct interest in defending a woman's right to choose. If we are clear that this is what determines our tactics towards Parliament, then we can avoid turter, contusion among our forces and build a really effective campaign.
- LET of and the Struggle for Women's Rights THE FIGHT FOR WOMEN' The Sex Discrimination Act ster. Admission 35p.
women New pamphlet, 15p plus 8p p&p, from:
Socialist Woman, 97 Caledonian Rd, N1 -WHATS ONANGOLA WORKSHOP Sat 8 Mav. 10.30- 5.30 in Atrica Centre, 38 King St. London WC2. send 50c for registration and paders to: Angola Solidarity Committee, c/a 30 Romilly Road, London N4. roster noad, Trumpington, Cambridge overridingly an ideological/political fight against the state. As a necessary part of that fight we work for the provision of facilities. To separate the two or to change the priority is to dangerously mislead the movement.
If abortion is illegal, the most humanitarian of hospital administrators will not be dole to provide any kind or taci ities. And of course there is no point in naving an abstract ront to abortion i the facilities to make the right a reality are not avanabe Allowing for the impossibility of a political paper to put forward its total programme in each issue, I believe that the logic of the centre-spread of the 1 April issue is this: that Parliament is no longer a factor that has to be considered, that a Tribunal is our substitute: that the campaign for facilities, against the cuts supersedes the need to defend the '67 ADOrTIOn ACI ne abortion rignts movement is a thousand per cent bigger than before the White Bill, and in that sense we have reasons for optimism. However we have some very serious political problems which need solving.
Has the call for a boycott succeeded? Do people understand it? Have we given up the possibility of a parliamentary pro-abortion wing? If not, how do wi revive it and what do we want them to How are we going to react to the -broDable restrictive recommencations of the Select Committee? Can the fight tor abortion riants be solved at tne eve of the NHS? How do we develop the Tignt within tne Labour Party to make this a Party issue?
These are just a few of the questions which need discussion. I hope that the IM's commitment to NAC will enable us to gain clarity and restore a better sense of direction. - ANTONIA GORTON (member of NAC Steering Committee).
and statelet. 8pm, Fri 30 April, Earl Russel GREATER MANCHESTER Troops Out Movement Shata, it Clement Be ding. London School of SCAUAL UPPHESSION under capitalism-Worker Sham Court Rd, on 30
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