Anti-War Committee Stands Up for Reproductive Rights!

You can view their speech here.

Speech given by Ashley Taylor-Gougé, member of the Anti-War Committee, at the Emergency Response Protest to defend abortion rights on May 4, 2022.

As an anti-war activist and a graduate of Kent State University, I would be remiss if I did not mention that today, May 4th, marks 52 years since the national guard opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam war. In just 13 seconds, they wounded 9 students and took the lives of 4 more. I don’t bring this up to detract from the topic at hand, but to remind us that these struggles are interconnected. 

At the same time that this protest was taking place in 1970, the Vancouver Women’s Caucus was traveling across Canada to advocate for increased access to legal abortion and a complete removal of abortion from Canada’s Criminal Code. They set out on their journey from Vancouver to Ottawa in “a Volkswagen van with a coffin on top representing all the women who had died from unsafe abortions.” They called it the Abortion Caravan. When they learned of the tragedy in Ohio, they had to decide whether or not to continue on their journey or pause to support their siblings in the anti-war movement. Similar to how we are showing up for each other today. 

Being anti-war is not just about opposing military conflict across the world. War is not always waged over land, but often over BODIES. Our right to reproductive care is UNDER ATTACK! 

I can’t help but see the parallels between the public health impact of this WAR ON WOMEN and sanctions imposed on countries such as Cuba and Iraq. It is SIMPLE – restrictions on access to comprehensive health care results in more poverty, more sickness, and MORE DEATH. It is forced birth in a country with no paid parental leave, no universal healthcare, no guaranteed childcare, rising food and housing costs, and inconceivable debt. 

The Anti-War Committee believes in a nation’s right to self-determination, which is simply the right of people to determine their own destiny and to make their own political choices. This right does not only apply to nations, but also to bodies. People should have the right to self-determination on issues around reproductive justice. This includes the right to a healthy birth, the right to prevent an unplanned pregnancy, and the right to obtain a safe abortion. Decisions about reproduction should be based on BODILY AUTONOMY and INFORMED CONSENT, not the underlying motives of capitalist lawmakers.

The Anti-War movement stands in solidarity with the reproductive justice movement. We are a coalition of movements working together to oppose imperialism and oppression in its many forms and we will be together in these streets for as long as necessary. 

Ending Roe is an attack on the autonomy of poor and working class people across the country. 

When abortion rights are under attack, what do we do? STAND UP! FIGHT BACK! 

When abortion rights are under attack, what do we do? STAND UP! FIGHT BACK!