Workers Solidarity Movement

You've probably heard the slogan "Pro-Life that's a lie, you don't care if women die!" at pro-choice rallies or protests. Today the reality of that slogan is once again ringing true.

At around about noon yesterday a 57-year-old white man, known as Robert Lewis Dear, attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado in the U.S. Three are dead and nine are injured as a result of the terrorist shooting.

The clinic has been under attack by Anti-Choice zealots before and has frequently been subjected to pickets and protests outside the clinic. Abortion only comprises 10-15% of all of the services availed of that Planned Parenthood provide. This means that everyone who enters the clinic, whether you're the 10-15% in need of an abortion or the other 85-90% availing of other basic reproductive health care services, does so in fear of being shot or attacked in any other way.

This shooting comes at a time when abortion is becoming increasingly restrictive in certain parts in America. In Texas there is only one clinic for the entire state to use, and those seeking abortions must jump through hoops before they are even granted the right to an abortion.

This includes, state-directed counseling that includes material designed to discourage abortion, the person must have an ultrasound during which the ultrasound technician is required to describe the image to the patient. After the pregnant person undergoes this they must wait 24 hours before an abortion is provided.

Since Roe v Wade in 1973 abortion has been permitted in the USA. Since then the stance of the abortion rights movement has shifted from offensive to defensive. Pro-Choice campaigners have become reliant on the state to keep the legislation in place, to keep the services open and to provide security to protect them from attacks.

This dependency is on the very same state that was responsible for the previous anti-choice laws and that has the power to take those choices away in the blink of an eye.

After Roe v Wade the fight should have continued on for full reproductive freedom. Reproductive freedom is the freedom to reproduce and the freedom not to reproduce. It means Voluntary Motherhood.

It is the freedom to reproduce without fear of what oppression your child will face in this world, it means the freedom to reproduce without financial barriers. That's the type of world that the mainstream pro-choice campaigns should have went on to fight for, it's the world that we should currently be fighting for.

For now, this attack shows us that terrorism isn't simply what the mainstream media tells us it is. Terrorism includes attempts to gun down women who are making the choice best for them; it includes trying to gun down health care providers.

This shooting once again reinforces the idea that there is nothing more terrifying than a white man in America with gun access.

Words: Fionnghuala Nic Roibeaird