Abortion Struggles Beyond Voting: Women’s Liberation, Reproductive Care, and Dual Power

This week I published a new piece on the history of abortion struggles in Hard Crackers: Chronicles of Everyday Life.

“At recent pro-choice demonstrations, we have been told that the only way to protect abortion is to vote for Democrats in November. Yet the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade under a Democratic president, house, and senate. The Democrats appear more interested in fundraising off of Roe and attacking grassroots activists than they do fighting the right-wing assault on abortion. But reproductive rights were not won by electoral means, and that is not how we will defend them. The historical experiences of feminist abortion struggle between the 1960s and 1990s offer alternative strategies for building power and transforming society.”

Read the full piece here: Abortion Struggles Beyond Voting: Women’s Liberation, Reproductive Care, and Dual Power

I also recorded an audio version that I uploaded to YouTube, which you can listen to here: Abortion Struggles Beyond Voting.

Author: Empty Hands

Empty Hands History is written by Spencer Beswick, a historian of anarchism and the left who hopes to offer inspiration and lessons for today's movements.