In May 2022, the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, fueling a frenzy of conservative moves at state legislative levels. In November, Michigan will hold an election deciding the accessibility of reproductive access throughout the state.
The Supreme Court’s decision is an attack on all working and poor women, queer, and trans folks who have faced continued oppression and brutality from the reactionary state. The United States has a history of using reproduction laws as a racist and sexist weapon against the people and those they have colonized. The warehousing of pregnant people in “asylums”, prisons, racist eugenics laws, bans on contraception, anti-sodomy laws, inadquate access to childcare, the criminalization of parents, and the lack of healthcare for millions have all played a part. In the 20th century and beyond, tens of thousands were forcibly sterilized under eugenics laws. The number of Black people who were forcefully sterilized is unknown, no doubt majority populations in some areas of the South. Nearly one-third of the female population in Puerto Rico was sterilized. 40% of Indigenous women and 10% of Indigenous men in the United States underwent sterilization at this time. All this while abortion was illegal. Forcible sterilization continues to take place in America in prisons and detention facilities. Recently, waves of reactionary, anti-trans legislation have swept the country, with 230 bills introduced in 2022 intended to limit the rights transgender people maintain over their transitions.
Our right to abortion and body autonomy privacy was never guaranteed by Roe v Wade; Proposal 3, on the MI ballot this November, is also limited. We know that the actual right to abortion was fought for and won by the people, mainly militant women, who took to the streets 60 years ago and struggled against the capitalist state’s control over our reproductive rights. Roe v Wade was won through struggle, and our struggle will continue until the right to abortion is protected for all working class and oppressed peoples.
The fight for reproductive rights and autonomy is not one limited to abortion access. Rather, it is a constant struggle against fascist forces that seek to solidify state control over our bodies, and any decisions we may make regarding our well-being. It is the most recent step in a plan rapidly unfolding by the ruling class to create conditions in which we question our dominion over our lives. Even more relevant, this ruling is the most recent development in a trend set forth by decades of the stripping of rights from prisoners, rights to reproductive access, rights to bodily autonomy, and the right to reject the exploitation of their labor, which currently fuels production for many major corporations throughout the United States. In denouncing the fascist push towards restricting reproductive access, we also acknowledge that a fight towards regaining autonomy over our bodies is a fight that includes abolishing the prison system, and a fight towards dismantling the carceral state entirely.
Politicians from any ruling class party do not, and cannot ever, uphold the interests of the people. There is no democracy for the working class in the United States of America. The myth of solving our problems through electoralism, simple voting, and “civil discourse” is now on full display. Doulas, midwives, medical practitioners, neighbors and organizers are the people who are and will secure reproductive access for many people throughout the state of Michigan. After this election, these are the people who will continue to ensure that our communities will be able to make clear and safe decisions over the medical well-being of their own bodies. We cannot view this moment as motivated by Republicans only. It must be understood that abortion and healthcare access are not synonymous with voting for Democrats.
We must acknowledge that politicians have held “the right to choose” hostage to build a platform for campaign fundraising. When reactionary political figures in the wholly undemocratic Supreme Court and the MI Senate claim that they have a “legitimate interest protecting the “lives of unborn children,” what they really mean is they have an interest in policing Black and Brown people, creating conditions of poverty and abuse of mothers and their children, and exploiting the labor of the working class. This state has no interest in protecting the people. If it did, it would have done so already.
Roe has failed to secure privacy and the right to body autonomy. We must make clear that reproductive access and privacy is a step in determining the power we hold to live our lives in the ways that continue to liberate ourselves and our communities. The struggles against sexism, transphobia, homophobia, racist violence, and police brutality are all deeply intertwined. We must advocate for those incarcerated within an exploitative and racist prison system that exists to reinforce white supremacy and hyper-capitalism.
We will continue to resist these abortion bans, religious extremism and white nationalism. We will rise up, and organize. We are here and ready to struggle for the liberation and freedom of all those exploited, oppressed and colonized in Michigan, in this country and in the world. We are prepared to resist. We will fight. We will win.