SINCE the 1930s when Labour and Cooperative women first called for the legalisation of abortion, it has remained a campaigning issue.
In 1975 the Working Women's Charter Campaign was one of the groups which founded the National Abortion Campaign (NACI Since then, most of the trade unions hate afa filiated to VAC and a number of special conferences directed to the labour more ment have been held.
The next such conference takes place on July 27, focusing on taking the struggle for abortion rights into the unions.
In the last vear, there have been changes in the abortion law, drastic cut-backs in family planning provision, the estab ishment of the Human Fer tilisation and Embryology Authority, and tna announcement that the abortion pill, RU486, has been approved for use in this country by the Safety of Medicines Committee.
The coming conference will be looking at these issues, with a number of expert speakers as well as trade union speakers to look at the campaigns that arise from them.
The conference will also be addressed by Jolanta Plakwicz of the Polish Women's Association, which has been leading the fight against attempts to make abortion illegal orchestrated by the Catholic church. Campaign against Corrie- sup ort usually declines. But in the aftermath of the Fight Alton's Bill nag (FAB) campaign, and the Stop Amendment Campaign, member. ship has steadily risen. A number of new unions, such as USDAW and the RMT, have affiliated.
This increased support has come because we have not been content to simply oppose anti-abortion propaganda-but have actively promoted pro-choice policies.
The conference is a part of this process. It will highlight the major issues in the politics of reproductive rights that face women and the labour movement over the next period. We aim both to map out our campaigning priorities and also to underline the importance of internationalsolidarity as a part of our work.
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PHOTO: Jez Coulson (Insiaht) International News