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tember 8th, though twice acquitted of the original charge, Morgentaler was refused parole, on the grounds that he 'could be a danger to society.
The attacks were not limited to Morgentaler however. On June 25th Montreal police raided the Committee for Contraception Information and Free and Legal Abortion, seizing files and interrogating 7 staff.
AND IN THE USA In che United States the challenge to legalised abortion was similar to the the Canadian experience.
Kenneth Edelin, a black doctor who believed in providing abortions on request, was found guilty of manslaughter by an all-white Boston jury in February this year, it became obvious that the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalising abortion was under serious attack. Edelin was not charged with harming women, The prosecution rested its case on "manslaughter" of a foetus aborted in 1973.
The struggle for legal abortion, like many other issues fought for by women, gained its greatest organised strength in the United States before most other countries. The contradiction between increased education, financial independence and high aspirations on the one hand and the oppressive weight of law, customs and conditioning on the other, made many women acutely aware of their role in society. The struggle for the legal right of women to control their own reproduction started early, within a few years of the new women's liberation movement. Science and tech nology had provided women with the means to control their fertility, but the law forbade women exercising any control. In 1970, under pressure from People for the Abolition of Abortion Laws, New York liberalised its laws. In Spring 1971 Women v. Connecticut launched a class action suit and called for a mobilisation to March on Washington. The August 26th demonstration of 1970 had brought 30,000 people into the streets as an expression of the fight for women's liberation, and this greatly spurred on the new abortion movement. From 1968 when polis showed only 15 per cent in favour, the effect of the women's movement became apparent.
In response to this struggle, and the threat to the sanctity of the nuclear family and women's oppres sed state, millions of pounds were spent on a campaign to defend these repressive insitutions under the guise of defence of the sanctity of foetal life.
Action Campaign was launched to co-ordinate the state-wide struggles and give them a national focus. campaign was pledged to organising mass actions on the basis of a woWhen Dr man's right to choose. came from forces in NOW who coun terposed lobbying to mass action, some population control forces like Zero Population Growth who were not interested in giving women the question of women's oppression as a diversion from the class struggle, [or who opposed campaigning on one issue of women's oppression rather than propagandising on all aspects] and to the slogans and demands of the campaign, was joined by a masABROGATION The Women's National Abortion The Opposition This opposition to both the independent campaign methods of Wonaac witt DR.
MORGE! sive right-wing attack. Press releases red-baiting the campaign were distributed, letters were sent to all the prospective speakers at the November 20th demonstration in 1971 war warning them off and literature was produced claiming to speak for women in attacking the abortion campaign. The Right to Life Campaign, and Life began a national and international attack on the movement. One of the photographs featuring bloody foetuses, that first appeared on a tract printed in Ohio has travelled far, recently appearing in Holland on a Dutch leaflet.
However, despite this opposition, Wonaae was able to organise a national demonstration and build a nationally coordinated campaign. In 1972 it had to resist the pressure of liberal Democrats who were trying to draw it behind the McGovern campaign. Unlike the NOW, Wonaac remained independent, and in January 1973, after several states had hiberalised their laws, the Supreme Court ruled nationally that abortion should be legal. Most states now have abortion on demand up to 12 -24 weeks. In spite of this initial victory, there is still a struggle ahead to force the implementation of the changed laws, beat back challenges such as the Edelin prosecution, and go in to win FAOD.
COF HOICE HICS
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choice, and from groups that either opposed organising any issue on the
SAUVE A dES 1
une maternite librement choiste