their life. Thousands of women daily face death or serious injury rather than contin ue with unwanted pregnancies. Nearly 50 per cent of the world's women cannot get legal abortions on any grounds, except perhpas that of risk to And, in many countries, liberal abortion laws are under attack In the late 1950s the East European countries (except Albania, where abortion remains illegal) followed the Soviet Union's example by making abortion for the first 12 weeks on demand. But following high rates of Hungry in 1973 have all re-enacted In Rumania, the birth rate then rose from 12.8 per 1,000 in 1966 to 39.9 in 1967, but dropped to 18.8 in 1972. During the nine years when abortion was legal the Baco Hospital performed some 15,000 terminations with no maternal deaths; in the following two years there were five deaths from In Japan, where the 1948 law allows abortion on demand in prac tice, it is an important method of Religious groups and the Movement to Treat Life Respecfully are pushing for restrictions, whilst the doctors who make huge fortunes out of abortion want contraceptive use limited - the women's organisation Chu-Pi-Ren claims illegal. the pill is being sold at 400 per cent The Government is considering changing the legal grounds from "socio-economic to *mental health' - which, claim the women's movement and the left, would put the "blame' on the indiv- aim. idual woman rather than on society, without in any way tackling the probSTERILISATION In Latin America, contraception and abortion are widespread and increasing - but remain illegal. The greatest threat to women's right to control their own fertility comes from enforced sterilisation. In Colombia, women having babies sign English-language consent forms, unwittingly giving permission for sterilisation. In Guatemala, women are used for experiments in sterilisation techniques. And in Chile, half the $ 30m. donated by the World Health Organisation funds a 'family planning project - sterilisation aimed at controlling working-class fertility - headIn the US, itself, abortion rights are under attack in the courts. Early this year, Dr Kenneth Edelin was convicted in Boston for "manslaughter" following a legal termination; in August Dr Floyd was indicted for illegal abortion and murder for performing an abortion at 25 weeks. In New York, anti-abortionists are attempting to get restrictions enacted, in spite of evidence that illegal abortions are decreasing only in those states with liberal practices PUNISHABLE In Spain, Portugal, and Italy, abortion is practised on a wide scale even though it is illegal - in Portugal, despite the overthrow of fascism, it is still punishable by im prisonment for both the abortionist It is fitting that on 6 December herself. an internanona pro dooraon dem onstration will take place in the heartland of Catholicism- Rome This is part of a continuing struggle i Hay to change a situaton that condemns some 1½m. women a year to illegal abortions, ending in death for several thousand. The demonstration, called by a conference in October of women's groups which run self-help clinics, is also an important chance for the movements in Europe to demonstrate their solidarity and mutual support. It is being supported by many abortion movements and left groups, including the Fourth International.
RESPONSIBILITY The British abortion movement has a particular responsibility to support both the right of foreign women to continue to get their abortions here, and to help them change the law in their own coun tries. It is worth pointing out that the 1967 Abortion Act does not apply in the North of Ireland; while in the South abortion remains illegal. forcing some 20 women a week to come here to seek them. In Hong Kong, a British colony, abortion is Only when all women, every where can control nel own tercuty wil our fight be won. The Rome demonstration and other actions on 6 December give us a chance to unite with other women fighting for that :****************:
NAC is organising a trip to Rome leaving London on Thursday 4 December and costing about t.25. NAC sup porters should get their trade and stu dent unions to sponsor them In Britain on 6 December NAC is organising pickets or embassies of countries where abortion is lilegal, ditt icult to get, or currently under attack. It is hoped that women and men from the countries concerned will offer to take part and help organise the pickets. For example, on that day, abortion demonstra tions are taking place in New Zealand and Australia to mark the end of Inter national Women's Year - hopefully women trom those countries will organ ise solidarity actions here.
Contact NAC at 30 Camden Road, London NW1 (01-485 4303) if you need details, or can help ***** Dr Berry Beaumont, a member of the NAC Steering Committee and of the Socialist Medical Association, spoke to a highly successful meeting in Hull last week jointly sponsored by the local NAC group and the botanic ward Labour Part Association (part of anti-abortion MP Kevin McNamara's constituency)
Leading docks shop steward Tony Fee, who chaired the meeting, said that whilst campaigns for abortion and con traception were difficult topics to intro duce to maie workers, it was vital to take the campaign into the labour movement as a whole. Local Labour Councillor Pat McMullan, who also spoke, said that as a Catholic he considered that abortion should not be decided by the conscience of individual MPs, but by the womar Support for the meeting was received from members of a number of trade union branches, including the lauwu, ADIMs NUPE and APEX. A resolution calling for Kevin McNamara to implement Labour Party conference polity and to resign from the Parliamentary Select Committee on abordon was unanimousy Dassed
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JOINT LABOUR-NAC MEETING IN HULL