Since 2013, Stop Patriarchy (launched in 2012) has led counter-protests against the anti-abortion March for "Life" in DC and San Francisco - for Abortion On Demand and Without Apology. The anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion holds a great importance, as the right to abortion continues to be under unrelenting attack from a woman-hating, government-backed movement led by fascists, fundamentalists, and terrorists. There is NOTHING MORAL about denying women the right to abortion, and the truth must be told:
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Forced motherhood is female enslavement.
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San Francisco 2016
Above: Counter protests against the March for "Life" (a.k.a. March for Forced Motherhood) in 2013, 2014, and 2015 - when the anti-abortion march of thousands in DC was brought to a HALT.
CLICK HERE for media coverage on the DC action, where the March for "Life" was BROUGHT TO A HALT.
CLICK HERE to see photos and reports on the Stop Patriarchy blog. CLICK HERE for reports on national actions from revcom.us.
Above left: Video of action in DC, where the March for "Life" was brought to a HALT.
Above right: Arrested activists continue to chant in the paddywagon after being arrested!
Letters to Stop Patriarchy from across the country, in the wake of national Roe v. Wade actions in 2015...
From a young woman who came to DC:
On the 22nd of January, the 42nd anniversary of Roe Vs. Wade - I joined Stop Patriarchy in their efforts to oppose the so-called “pro life” march. I did this because I am a dedicated feminist who avidly supports Stop Patriarchy’s mission in confronting, resisting and changing this overwhelming epidemic of anti-women, patriarchal fascists who’s main objective is to degrade, dehumanize and enslave women. I am a twenty-five year old woman who is desperate for total and complete control over my body and life. I have never associated procreation with sexual experiences and I refuse to start now. Joining Stop Patriarchy in Washington DC was incredibly inspiring, motivating and liberating. Stop Patriarchy is an organization of activists who demand nothing less than total equality for women-fighting along side them was a privilege. Received through our e-List page:
So happy to see so many of this generation finally waking up to what's really happening to women in America and across the globe. I rallied in the 70's and I was beginning to think that women today have been pacified with their limited gains of 'so-called equality'. Keep up the good fight! Excerpted from a letter from Jonah, a new supporter of Stop Patriarchy:
There will never be a revolutionary movement against capitalism without an equally robust struggle for women’s liberation. The world is 51% female. Any liberation struggle that strives to end forced labor but leaves forced motherhood intact, that dethrones the police officer and CEO but not the pornographer and rapist, is a liberation struggle that has failed half the planet. We can do better. We have to. Please, my brothers, my sisters, anyone with a thirst for justice in this wicked world – find out what you can do to support Stop Patriarchy and the struggle for women’s freedom. (Read full letter here) |
2015: Abortion SpeakoutEyes Opened and Silence Broken
from revcom.us "A grandmother shared a story she hadn't told in perhaps fifty years: after getting married at age 15 she had two miscarriages before her first child. “I was terrified,” she said, as she explained that her father-in-law had told her that if she couldn't produce a child he would get rid of her. “Just like a tree that doesn't bear fruit, you cut it off at the base,” he said. Tears welled up in her eyes as she spoke and her granddaughter and daughter, who were also present, took all this in for the first time..." Read more 2013: Call for Week of ActionA few of the many short comments left at StopPatriarchy.org since the
Roe v Wade Anniversary 2015: "Yes - at last! Let's do it!" "Thank you for existing." "I come to this as a result of the growing daily onslaught that women are now being force to endure and as a woman of color I feel is even more burdensome." "This is needed." "Amen." "Keep abortion legal and available in all 50 states." "Thank you for standing up for women." "RIGHT ON." "Thank you for re-energizing the Women's Choice movement. I was becoming apathetic under the burdens of work and debt." "Many thanks for your courageous work! Sign me up, please!" "We need more groups like you." "It is about time." "PLEASE SEND ME YOUR EMAILS." "Thank you!" "Old man ready to help where/when he can." "At age 71, I can't believe we are having to fight this fight all over again. Count me in." "WOMEN ARE HALF THE POPULATION - STOP THE ALL OUT WAR ON WOMEN & WOMEN'S RIGHTS." "It seems like today's political environment is becoming more hostile to women's rights and we need to fight back!!!" "So glad to hear about your organization and your actions recently in Washington, D.C.!" "SIGN ME UP!" "Fuck porn, please email me I WANT TO GET INVOLVED. Sorry I don't have something intellectual to say." "It's about time the next generation got serious about this issue. THANK YOU!!!" "Thank you for all the work you do. It has never been needed more." "Bout Damn Time." "This is exactly what women need right now." "Excellent! This is definitely the right attitude." "Gratitude to Stop Patriarchy for being on the front lines (as always) and NEVER being silent! MUCH RESPECT!" |
Received through our e-List page:
FINALLY.... someone has "framed" the subject for what it is, and ISN'T. If the right to life were about 'babies', there would be no children warehoused, in want of homes. What it IS about, and has ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT, is CONTROL OF WOMEN! BRAVA!!! From California:
I am a 62 year old male and have been very concerned about the war on women, not only for my wife but for our two teenage daughters. We live in California where women's rights are still strong but are concerned about the rhetoric coming from the Evangelical Christian community. Mostly their men but also from the women within. We live in Woodbridge, CA in a very conservative area of the San Joaquin valley. Let me know how and where our family can help and how to donate to your organization. From Canada:
Happy to find out about this organization. I live in Canada but will do whatever I can to help spread the word. I have quite a few family members who live in the States and will try to get them on board too. I call right-to-life supporters "Christian terrorists" as they really are shoving, or trying to shove, their beliefs down everyone's throats. I believe women should have the right to choose and only she can decide what's best for her. The people who try to force women to have children are NOT there to help when the children are born. I could go on forever about this issue and how we need to fight back or pro-choice will be lost! |
From one of the Pink House Defenders (escorts at the last abortion clinic in Mississippi):
With all of the well funded Pro-Choice Organizations out there...Whose signs were prevalent today? Whose "boots were on the ground" today? Who STOPPED the anti-abortion zealot's March For Life for over 30 minutes today? STOP PATRIARCHY did! Their "walk" matches their "talk". If we don't stop talking and start fighting, as SP does, we're going to lose this war. Thank you Sunsara Taylor and all at Stop Patriarchy! Received through our e-List page:
Please add me to your mailing lists. I am working with many young women of color and just last year did a piece in school focusing on our society's need to blame victims by creating a theatrical piece around the Steubenville rape. It horrified me how many young men AND women felt the victim "asked for it". This is how deep the saturation of the patriarchal system is. Received via Facebook:
It is outrageous that we must begin again, it seems, to fight a battle for women's equality and the right to dominance over their own bodies. As this movie says, we are not incubators. The anti-abortion movement has neither care nor compassion for the child once the umbilical cord is cut. The whole objective of the ever more draconian restrictions on abortion are just one more item in the right-wing war on women. Rise up all you Amazons, don't let the patriarchs destroy the rights that our foremothers (and fathers!) fought so hard to create. |
From Naesha, in Cleveland:
In the land of the “free”, you should be able to make your own decisions and have your own beliefs. But this isn’t the case. I went to Washington D.C. to stand up and fight for all women who are being stripped of their right to make their own choices as far as having an abortion. Women should be trusted enough to decide their fate, no one else. All lives matter of course but the life that’s already existing matters the most, the women. Without this basic right, women can’t be “free.” Abortion on demand and without apology. From Connecticut:
I am SICKENED that we have to re-fight the fight our mothers and grandmothers fought. I have 4 nieces and I despair that they might not have the rights I have. I've stood at the clinics and escorted women in and had to endure the harassment. I'm FURIOUS and fed up. I don't have a lot of money but I have no problem walking a picket line. From Maine:
I was born a happily married, hubby-supported feminist. I never understood the demeaning attitudes of a great many men. I don't get it! What the bloody hell are they afraid of?? Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) "Nature gave women so much power that the law has very wisely given them little". That law, of course, was MAN made. I am convinced that they will not be happy til we are totally subjugated & live in a harem. Not being able to make THAT choice, between me & my dr because some ones nose is legally in my business is bloody damned infuriating & has been all of my 73 years!! |
From Illinois:
THANK YOU. AT LAST. I am so tired of hearing about "exceptions for rape" and however many weeks... The conversation should be "because I said so!" I don't want to hear about anybody's god and I certainly don't want any man's view on my body and my decisions. From Tennessee:
What a breath of fresh air you are; I live in TN which recently passed a horrific law against women who decide to abort the pregnancy. The War Against Women is strong in TN. Here the churches can spew political support yet they maintain tax free status and keep their cult ignorant. Fear has always been a good money maker for the southern whites. From Vermont:
Just learned of your organization from reading about your counter-protest on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. To me (age 68 and an early NARAL member in my 20's who worked with a woman whose mother died trying to abort her 11th child), patriarchy is at the root of most evil perpetrated against women, a position that most women do not even recognize themselves (i.e., why would women want their fathers to "give them away" at their wedding? Why must a groom "ask permission" to marry a daughter, as though the daughter can't make a decision herself as to whom she loves?) I lived in a partriarchal family and learned early to resist. I am most interested in your organization, and look forward to reading more about it. |