Why Capitalists Care About Our Record-Low Birth Rate
One reason the corporate elite has an interest in antiabortion policies is because they hope to lower the price of labor — the labor of bearing and rearing children.
15 Articles by: Jenny Brown
Jenny Brown is a member of National Women’s Liberation and a former editor at Labor Notes. She is a coauthor of the Redstockings book Women’s Liberation and National Health Care: Confronting the Myth of America and author of Birth Strike: The Hidden Fight Over Women's Work. Her latest book is Without Apology: The Abortion Struggle Now.
What’s Behind the Antiabortion Crackdown?
Since the turn of the 19th century, crackdowns on women’s reproductive rights have come in cycles. The attack isn’t only about controlling women but about pushing up the birth rate to suit capital’s needs.
Abortion Bans Are Imminent
A leaked SCOTUS decision draft suggests the court is planning to overturn Roe v. Wade, permitting states to ban abortion. The response from Democrats should be obvious: skirt the Supreme Court and demand federal legislation codifying the right to abortion.
Take Abortion Out of the Court’s Hands
Abortion rights shouldn’t be at the mercy of the judiciary. We need federal legislation codifying Roe v. Wade — and Democrats need to buck up and eliminate the filibuster to pass it.
It’s Time for Abortion Rights Activists to Push a Federal Abortion Rights Law
The Supreme Court is useless. Now is the perfect time for feminists to campaign to end the filibuster and pass a federal law codifying abortion rights.
The Supreme Court Will Not Deliver Justice on Abortion Rights
The Supreme Court’s abortion rights decision yesterday provides a brief respite to women across the South. But we’re still playing defense in the courts. Our offensive should be in the streets.
Roe v. Wade Was Bigger Than Jane Roe
The news broke this week that Jane Roe, the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade, was paid by the anti-abortion right to publicly switch sides later in life. But while the news is shocking, we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that no single person was responsible for the partial victory of Roe — it takes collective action to win social change.
“Stay Home and Have the Baby”
Texas and Ohio have ordered a stop to abortions, saying they’re not essential medical services. Other states will follow. Right-wing forces are using the pandemic as a pretext to crack down dramatically on abortion rights. We can’t let them.
No More Compromise on Abortion
After years of retreat, we need to reject the approach of conservative NGOs and fight for abortion without apology.
Abortion Is Our Right To Strike
Abortion isn’t a “cultural” issue. The production of children, and who will pay for it, is a key economic battlefront.
Not In Labor
With meager public support for parents, US women are having fewer children than ever. Raising the next generation is work — and American women seem to be on strike.
Medicare for All Is a Reproductive Rights Issue
Feminists have been pushing for years to repeal the Hyde Amendment. But we should think even bigger: Medicare for All.
Rational Actors
In the United States, women face the prospect of becoming mothers without necessary social protections. Many decide it’s not worth the risk.
Not Working for Trump
Why feminists are calling for a national women’s strike during Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Abortion Without Apology
The demand for abortion has had the most success when it’s been free of preemptive compromise.