by YDSA is holding its national convention from July 22 to 24. Reform & Revolution comrades in YDSA support resolution #14 and consider it a priority.
You can find all the resolutions put forward to the convention here. R&R comrades in YDSA have also put together this voters guide.
As the Supreme Court and the radical right wing launch an assault on abortion rights and bodily autonomy, R&R YDSA has put forward this resolution to propose a YDSA strategy that meets this political moment. The Republican Party and the Supreme Court have launched an all-out attack on the health and bodily autonomy of working class people. This includes the overturn of Roe v Wade and subsequent abortion bans, conservative attacks on trans people bans on gender affirming healthcare, attempts to overturn contraception and gay marriage. Meanwhile, President Biden and the Democratic Party have failed to defend abortion, gender affirming healthcare, or even liberal democracy from these attacks.
This has created a unique political moment: large sections of the working class (women, LGBTQ people, students) are angry and mobilized to an extent not seen since the Trump administration, but under a Democratic presidency. This presents a challenge for socialists to organize our movement as a militant alternative to the failed, capitalist-run Democratic Party. As the largest socialist organization in the US, DSA is most fit to rise to the challenge.
Chapters across the country have already taken up this struggle, organizing protests, political education, mutual aid, and more for abortion rights. Meanwhile, membership has surged as over 1,000 new members joined DSA in the immediate aftermath of the overturning of Roe v Wade. YDSA should lead this energy into a fighting campaign for abortion rights and trans liberation, which can articulate working class demands and present our organization as a political home for those failed by the Democrats. This would entail the NOC organizing a campaign cohort, developing a campaign toolkit for chapters, and calling for a National Day of Action for abortion rights in mid-October.
A socialist movement for reproductive rights must be rooted in a mass campaign, using street protests, working class power, and a dynamic strategy that leverages popular opinion into an enduring challenge to the ruling class. With R-14, we believe YDSA can begin that challenge.
Resolution 14:
Sponsor: Spencer Mann, Reed College
Co-sponsors: Wallace Milner, Portland State University Alex Franzblau, Florida International University Ruy Martinez, Harvard College Antthany Allred, Portland State University
Whereas, the conservative majority on the US Supreme Court is overwhelmingly likely to overturn Roe v Wade this summer, leaving millions of people in red states without access to abortion care or reproductive healthcare.
Whereas, the Supreme Court is an unelected and illegitimate body that historically has served the interests of the ruling class, not oppressed and working people.
Whereas, as socialists, we stand for bodily autonomy, of which being forced to carry a pregnancy to term is a grievous violation, and many will resort to dangerous methods to terminate their pregnancies.
Whereas, even under Roe v Wade, millions of people around the country are unable to access abortion services and reproductive healthcare due to state and local bans and restrictions and the prohibitive costs of healthcare. As such, it is not simply enough for us to return to the status quo, and as socialists, it is our responsibility to fight for a better world.
Whereas, outlawing abortion and reproductive healthcare will overwhelmingly harm the most marginalized among us including people of color, gender minorities, low wage workers, and youth. As such, it is crucial for YDSA to organize to defend abortion and reproductive healthcare, fight for the expansion of reproductive healthcare rights as a key component of Medicare for All, and build power as an organization while doing so.
Whereas, the fight for abortion rights and the rights of transgender people are inextricably linked since both struggles demand bodily autonomy. Additionally, attacks on trans rights are escalating at the same time as abortion rights are set to be overthrown.
Whereas, in the first four months of 2022, over 150 anti-transgender pieces of legislation have been proposed in 35 states around the country, by far the most of any year in history.
Whereas, a staggering number of these bills specifically target the rights of transgender and non-binary youth to gender affirming healthcare, at a time when trans and non-binary youth are already at an especially high risk for discrimination and abuse from the individuals and institutions that they are surrounded with.
Whereas, the bodily autonomy of transgender and non-binary individuals is fundamentally incompatible with bans on gender affirming healthcare.
Whereas, many of the most powerful and mainstream organizations that are organizing in support of abortion rights, reproductive healthcare, and gender affirming healthcare have adopted the inadequate strategy of orienting towards the Democratic Party as opposed to the multi-racial, gender diverse working class.
Whereas, despite this, these organizations have a significant mailing list and reach in popular discourse, and as such it is strategic for socialist organizations to form broad coalitions with them and inject socialist demands and tactics into those coalitions and into the events organized by them.
Whereas, the only way to defend and expand abortion rights and reproductive healthcare rights is via a broad movement that brings together different sections of the working class using tactics such as mass protests, civil disobedience, and labor action that can pressure the right wing of the Supreme Court to back down or force Biden to expand the court. Furthermore, the only way to defend and expand trans rights and the right to gender affirming healthcare is a similarly constructed movement, instead targeted at state and local legislatures who are proposing and passing legislation that would restrict or remove people’s rights.
Whereas, socialists have a vital role to play in arming the movement with tactics and ideas that will make it more likely to succeed.
Therefore, be it resolved that YDSA calls on DSA to jointly organize and promote a mass mobilization march and rally in Washington DC in September with organizations including Planned Parenthood, National Organization for Women, National Abortion Rights Action League, Women’s March, labor unions, and others, with demands that include the following….
1. That Roe v Wade be preserved and that Congress enshrines abortion rights by ending the filibuster and passing the Women’s Health Protection Act
2. That Biden add 4 pro-choice justices to the Supreme Court, expanding it from 9 to 13 members
3. That Medicare for All be passed by both houses of Congress and signed into law, and that essential components of this legislation be both free abortion, on demand, without apology, and free gender-affirming healthcare
4. That policies including but not limited to free universal childcare, paid family leave, living wages, and affordable housing be signed into law in order to enable people to have children and raise them in a healthy environment
Therefore, be it also resolved that national YDSA will organize a campaign for socialist trans liberation, in coordination with YDSA chapters around the country, targeting state and local governments that have either proposed or passed anti-trans legislation, or are failing to enact policies that would strengthen and expand the rights of transgender and non-binary individuals. The campaign would include the following demands…
1. That free gender affirming healthcare be included under Medicare for All, at a statewide, local, and/or a federal level
2. That the right of transgender and non-binary individuals to participate in sports at all levels be enshrined in law, and that any legislation to the contrary be repealed or struck down
3. That the right of transgender and non-binary youth to use the school uniforms that correspond to their identified gender be enshrined in law, and that any legislation to the contrary be repealed or struck down
4. That the right of transgender and non-binary people to use the bathrooms that correspond with their identified gender be enshrined in law, and that any legislation to the contrary be repealed or struck down
5. That the right of all individuals to change the identification of their gender on federal, state, or local documentation be enshrined in law, and that any legislation to the contrary be repealed or struck down, and that federal, state, or local documentation shall include gender neutral gender identification options available for use.
