Reproductive rights group fights racism & war

Debbie Johnson photo: Cheryl LaBash

Organizers Debbie Johnson and Kris Hamel of the Detroit Action Network For Reproductive Rights (DANFORR) spoke in mid-January at two important Detroit political events. The audiences applauded the DANFORR speakers’ working-class approach, which expressed the struggle for reproductive rights in the context of the civil rights movement and the struggle against U.S. wars.

On Jan. 15, over 1,500 people gathered for the fourth annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day rally and anti-war march at the Central United Methodist Church in downtown Detroit. Johnson, a DANFORR founding member and leader, addressed the post-march rally:

“We can no longer sit back and watch the slow destruction of our cities, our towns, our education system, suffering from insufficient funds—forced to close schools in this city especially—when the money for jobs, food, housing, education and health care is being flung into the abyss of wars of aggression, domination and occupation.

“We must demand that the deep pockets in Washington and the Pentagon, which open only for war and not for human needs, be re-purposed. Unless we begin to act, the economic war at home will continue to take lives. Whether due to homelessness, hunger, inadequate or no health care, it will be a dismal future for future generations.

“In response to these very same conditions in 1968, Dr. King said: ‘It is disgraceful that a Congress than can vote upwards to $35 billion a year for a senseless immoral war in Vietnam cannot vote a weak $2 billion to carry on our all-too-feeble efforts to bind up the wounds of our nation’s 35 million poor. This is nothing short of a Congress engaging in political guerilla warfare against the defenseless poor of our nation.

“We must demand the mandate of November—No to war in Iraq and further death and destruction around the world. We must demand money for jobs and human needs, not for war!”

Roe v. Wade

Detroit NOW (National Organization for Women) organized a program Jan. 20 commemorating the 34th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion. It was held at the Swords Into Plowshares art gallery in downtown Detroit, and there DANFORR organizer Hamel spoke to a diverse crowd of pro-choice and women’s rights advocates on the state of the reproductive rights struggle and her organization’s work since its founding in May of 2006:

“The struggle for reproductive rights must have the overall demand of reproductive freedom for all women. This includes the right to decide if and when, and how many, children to have, and if you choose to have them, the right to raise them with everything they need for a decent and productive life as a human being. And that means having a job with good wages, health insurance, a place to live, enough money for heat and other utilities, good schools, nutritious food and all the other basics that should be a human right for everyone.

“Instead, Michigan has the highest child poverty rate in the country. Unemployment here is worse than in any other state except Mississippi. Public education, especially in Detroit, is woefully under-funded. Health care is but a dream for millions. Over 45,000 Detroit households have no drinking water. Foreclosures in Michigan lead the nation. And over 330,000 jobs in our state have been lost in the last several years alone.”

Who does this impact the most? Women. Children. The poor. Working women with low incomes, women of color, those who struggle everyday to survive, really the majority of us.

The November elections were considered a mandate by the people to stop the war in Iraq. What does this have to do with women? With the pro-choice struggle? With reproductive freedom for all women? It has everything to do with it because the money that is funding this vicious war and occupation comes directly from us. In Michigan, over $9 billion in taxes have gone to the Iraq war so far, over $600 million from the city of Detroit. We need to go to the Democrats and make them keep their election promises and fulfill their mandate from the people. Make them stop the war immediately and demand not one penny more for war!”