Since the tragic overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion rights have continued to be a major issue for working women and queer people. Abortion is banned in 13 states with partial bans in 10 others. Two women have already died as a result of these laws—their deaths were entirely preventable, but abortion bans prevented doctors from performing life-saving procedures.
After the Democratic Party’s failure over 50 years to codify Roe v. Wade into law, the incoming Trump administration and Republican-controlled House and Senate pose a heightened threat to reproductive rights. Abortion remains consistently popular in the polls, causing some Republicans to moderate their messaging on the issue—including Trump. But we should be under no illusions that these sections of the right wing have any intention of lifting existing bans or preventing others from going into effect.
This past election, abortion rights were on the ballot in 10 states, including eight red states, with ballot measures to protect abortion rights on the state level. Working people in seven of these states voted to expand reproductive rights, and in every state, these ballot measures were more popular than either presidential candidate. In Florida, the amendment gained a majority of votes but narrowly fell 3% short of the undemocratic 60% required for the measure to pass.
These votes reflect how abortion is an important issue to ordinary people, and it is extremely positive that several referendums passed even in places where people also voted for Trump. They show how desperately we need a new party that will fight for abortion rights as part of a full working-class program to counter the pull of the right. The Democrats won’t save us and have shown again and again that they won’t even put up a fight. We need to take the potential shown in these ballot initiatives and go even further with mass action in the streets, schools, and workplaces to defeat the right wing’s agenda.
Abortion Access Is Healthcare
As Trump’s inauguration looms, it is urgent to defend against right-wing attacks on reproductive health. Lack of access to safe, legal and timely abortions is a class issue that affects the entire working class. Having the choice to terminate a pregnancy, having basic agency over your own body, is a fundamental human right. Denying that opens the door for further attacks on bodily autonomy. The poorest people are hurt the worst. Healthcare access is not something the rich must contend with—they can tap into private, even international, health options with ease. The power to choose who lives or dies should not belong to the ruling class.
Women in red states like Texas and Georgia are already dying due to abortion criminalization. Amber Thurman, a 28-year-old Black woman and single mom from Georgia, died after seeking an abortion in North Carolina due to Georgia’s “Heartbeat Bill.” She suffered a rare complication after taking the abortion pill, leading to a life-threatening infection. Doctors delayed treatment until she was near death even though a routine procedure called a dilation and curettage (D&C) could have saved her. Two women (both of them Black) have died so far from these abortion bans, but their stories are almost certainly not the only ones, according to ProPublica. Black people are disproportionately affected by these attacks, as institutionalized racism in America’s broken healthcare system already results in a pregnancy mortality rate three times higher for Black women than white women.
These tragic deaths also reflect how we can’t keep women and queer people safe by “adapting” to life after Roe and just trying to navigate around the bans. Having access to the abortion pill via mail or by traveling to another state is an important mitigation measure, but even that is under attack. Also, there will always be complications for some patients. We should not limit ourselves from demanding an end to the bans, plus full, free access to a doctor for all abortions. This is completely tied to the fight for free, universal healthcare for all Americans.
Who’s To Blame?
The Democratic Party must be held responsible for their major role in the breakdown of abortion rights. In 2022, and again in 2024, Democrats ran campaigns on protecting abortions and conducted fundraisers claiming they would fight for it. The Democrats had nearly 50 years to write Roe into law, and at the time of the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe, had control of the House and Senate. After Dobbs, with the newfound power given to state legislatures, numerous right-wing bills were introduced that made abortion inaccessible—including criminalizing pregnant people, doctors, and healthcare workers.
With Trump’s sweeping victory, and a complete lack of a fightback from the Democrats and the traditional women’s organizations aligned with them, the far right is increasingly emboldened. In November, a men’s rights anti-abortion march in Boston highlighted rising tensions nationwide. For the far right, restricting abortion and curbing women’s autonomy are seen as ways to reinforce “traditional family values.”
The “nuclear” family model relies on access to free, unpaid labor: raising kids, household chores, and cleaning. Mothers are often expected to play this role and suffer immensely as a result. This traditional nuclear family model relies on reproductive labor such as cooking or child-rearing. A threat to the nuclear family structure—the building block of capitalism—is a threat to the system itself. Overseas, the billionaires are struggling to fund multiple inter-imperialist wars, and reinforcing traditional family values is one tactic they believe can stabilize their profits. Capitalism relies on and perpetuates the systematic oppression of women, trans, and queer people in order to exploit and divide the working class and prevent us from uniting to fight back against their brutal, crisis-ridden system.
Trump, fearing backlash, has increasingly avoided taking a strong stance against abortion rights, diverting the issue to the states. But Trump won’t stop state legislators from taking away abortion rights as seen in the passing of unpopular abortion measures, like in Texas, where 78% of voters support abortion but are denied access. This has drastically weakened abortion access stability. With states regularly updating their abortion policy or having it challenged (such as Georgia), the risk of loss always looms, perpetuating an unsustainable state of fear.
What Is Needed?
To secure a safer future, we must permanently protect the right to choose. But we can’t stop there. We need Medicare For All, including full reproductive and trans healthcare, free childcare, and free public education to support working families. Unions everywhere should strike in support of abortion rights and to address harmful fear-mongering and sexism in the workplace. Union leaders, especially in unions of healthcare workers, should be leading the charge against abortion bans with protests and strikes. These bans are also attacks on healthcare workers and their ability to provide the highest possible level of care for all patients.
As a result of this current period of rapid change and instability around the world, the ruling class is attempting to tighten its control on the working class through these inhumane attacks on bodily autonomy and human rights overall. The only way to fight this is with a socialist feminist approach that seeks to unite working-class people against our common enemy—the billionaire class. Trump’s presidency is a threat to all, and waiting for the next election, or the Democrats, is not an option. We need a movement beyond ballot referendums and empty campaign promises. This movement needs to win back our national abortion rights, expand access, and protect funding by taking up a fighting approach separate from the Democrats, who have only betrayed our movements. We urgently need a new working-class party to fight for the bodily autonomy of all and break from the exploitation of the ruling class once and for all.