PROVIDENCE -- Unless women launch a pre-emptive fight, the "right-wing drift" may propel an antiabortionist onto the U.S. Supreme Court and tip the balance that now preserves the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, says Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal.
Appearing at Brown University to launch a national, "Never Go Back" grass-roots campaign, Smeal warned that a vacancy on the Supreme Court is imminent, and without a fight, "soon we'll be having back-alley abortions, and girls will start dying again."
And with an antiabortion president and antiabortion majorities in the U.S. Senate and Congress, said Smeal, and Roe v. Wade "hanging by a thread . . . by one vote," the time to mobilize is now, not later.
She said the strategy should focus on the U.S. Senate, which has the power to approve, reject or block any nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The tactic she advised is the filibuster, an obstructive move (sometimes lengthy speeches that can run for days), "to block any anti-choice nominee."
"Some people think it's impolite to filibuster. I think we're fighting for women's lives," Smeal said.
Smeal started her campus-to-campus, 12-city tour in Providence, to launch "Never Go Back," a nationwide effort to educate pro-choice supporters about the threat to abortion rights, and develop a grassroots network that will in turn mobilize to save Roe v. Wade.
"So here we are before the election, and we in the Feminist Majority decided we've got to get out and tell people what's going on and start now, not start when the appointment goes down," said Smeal.
Besides the threat of an antiabortionist Supreme Court nominee, said Smeal, President Bush has been actively appointing federal circuit court judges with an anti-choice agenda.
And, he has been appointing others from the right wing to key federal agencies to dismantle hard-won civil rights in this country.
(Smeal said it is believed that Bush is about to appoint a Kentucky antiabortionist physician whose recommended cure for many illnesses "is to read the Scriptures," to an FDA committee that reviews drugs pertaining to reproduction).
"These courts are being stacked by right-wing extremists who are not only opposed to abortion, but to civil rights and almost everything that progressive forces have fought for, for years," said Smeal.
"If these people become the majority of our federal judiciary, the entire structure that was put together to defend women's rights, civil rights and the disabled and the elderly -- it's gonna go bye-bye."
The audience at List Art Center was largely young, but included some older-guard feminists, including Deb DeBare, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence, and state Rep. Edith H. Ajello, D-Providence.
"Right now, we are are in the longest period without an appointment in 100 years," said Smeal. "The appointment is going to come up -- most people think it's either in January or June -- but it's going to be soon."
"Abortion won't be illegal throughout the country but it will be illegal in many states," said Smeal, "and we will have back-alley abortions and girls will start dying again."
But the good news, said Smeal, is that the feminist movement is strong in this country, "and it's worldwide."
"We're strong, and we're connected," she said. "I hope you'll get involved to stop the right-wing drift of our country, and to save the [Supreme] Court from an anti-women's rights majority."
