by Sylvia Weinstein
Bubkas, for those who are uninformed, means “nada”-zippo-nothing. Most health insurance policies do not cover birth control for women. On an average it costs $300 per year for contraceptives for women-from birth control pills, to the diaphragm, to Norplant. This comes out of a woman’s paycheck, 68 percent of which goes to provide for her own health care.
Don’t get me wrong; I am in full support of men’s health as well as women’s. If a man feels he can do better with viagra, his health insurance should cover it. Nor should doctors who prescribe Viagra be forced to register with the government, as they are required to do when they prescribe RU 486, the drug that prevents conception by preventing the fertilized egg from attaching to the walls of the uterus. Taking RU 486 results in a miscarriage.
In the past dozen years, 500,000 French women have used RU 486 safely and effectively, but the United States dragged its heels both during the Reagan, Bush, and the Clinton-Gore reign. Finally, the U.S. was forced to allow RU 486 to be used, but the FDA set up some rigid rules: only doctors who perform abortions and have privileges at hospitals less than an hour away will be allowed to use RU 486 .
When I think of my illegal abortion on a kitchen table in an empty apartment in Staten Island, though I lived to tell this tale, I’m astonished at such rules in regard to RU 486. Actually, these restrictions are designed to cut down on women’s right to choose. Anti-abortion fanatics would have a difficult time targeting every doctor’s office.
Choice for women is getting more difficult each year. In 1999, over 400 anti-choice laws were proposed in 45 state legislatures across the United States. And more than 25 years after Roe v. Wade, 86 percent of all U.S. counties have no abortion provider.
This year, the U.S. Supreme Court narrowly upheld Roe v. Wade in defeating the Nebraska “partial-birth” abortion ban. When referring to “partial-birth” abortions, you would think that the fetus came out waving to its mom or walking out of the womb. In truth late-term abortions are only considered when the mother’s life is at stake or when the fetus is deformed.
Two years ago, a young woman in her early stage of pregnancy discovered she had cancer. Her doctors urged her to have an abortion because the very state of pregnancy would spread the cancer and because they could not treat her with chemotherapy or radiation while pregnant.
However, a flaming anti-abortion nut decided to go to court and have himself declared legal guardian of the fetus to prevent the abortion. Of course, it didn’t work, but the pain of having to go into a courtroom to fight the “guardian” was another example of the vindictiveness of those anti-choice people.
Now we have two back-to-back political conventions. The women’s organizations are urging a vote for Gore and against Bushwack because of the make-up of the Supreme Court and the danger to Roe v. Wade.
Everything women have won has been through struggle-independent of the two ruling-class political parties. We won the right to vote by struggles in the streets; we won the right to organize unions by marching by the millions in the street and by shutting down plants, mines, and other workplaces.
In the meantime, we have not received so much as spit from either party. If you believe you can rely on capitalist parties for women’s needs, then I have a “pet rock” that talks, and I will sell it to you for a bargain.
Break with the two parties who would feast on the bones of women. Back into the streets! Together, we are stronger than the capitalist parties. Together, in the hundreds of thousands, we can save the lives of millions of women.
