Austria: Court Victory Against Extreme Anti-Abortionists

LAST MONTH a Viennese court made a final ruling in
favour of Claudia Sorger, the spokesperson for women’s affairs of the
Socialist Left Party (SLP, the Austrian section of the CWI) in a case
brought by extreme anti-abortionists.

Sonja Grusch, SLP, Vienna

The chairman of Human Life International (HLI) Austria,
Dietmar Fischer, took legal action against Claudia Sorger because she
explained in an article the extreme methods of anti-abortionists, HLI.

The court confirmed the verdict of a lower court that
the SLP is right to say that HLI uses terror, psychological terror, lies,
intimidation and that the head of an abortion clinic was faced with death
threats.

In the 1990s, the extreme anti-abortionists started
their campaigning work in Austria. They stood in front of clinics, took
photos of women and pro-choice activists going into the clinics and called
these women "murderers".

The SLP took up this issue, organising protests against
the activities of HLI, especially those they organised in front of a clinic
in Vienna called ‘Lucina’. This clinic was a special target of HLI. The HLI
bought the building that houses the clinic, tried to evict the clinic
through a court case (which failed), and picketed the clinic on a daily
basis. The SLP, in order to defend the right of women to have an abortion,
needed to defend this clinic. This meant a three-year long campaign.

HLI has powerful friends

Despite this court decision, the HLI activists will
continue with their activities. They have supporters in the ranks of the
church and in both the government parties in Austria. Their ideology goes
hand-in-hand with the social cuts that are implemented by the government and
by the government’s policy of trying to force women back into the role of
staying at home and having children.

The right to obtain an abortion has existed since 1975
in Austria, but in recent years it has become increasingly necessary to
defend this fundamental women’s right.

An important effect of the SLP campaign is that the
social democrat-run Vienna city council has had to reduce the prices of
abortions in the city’s public hospitals. Although this is an important
improvement, it is still extremely difficult to have an abortion in a public
hospital.

We demand that every public hospital must make available
the opportunity for abortions in special departments. The cost of abortion
must be covered by regular health insurance.

As the Lucina clinic may possibly go bankrupt, the
clinic has to be taken into public ownership, so that women can still have
access to abortion services. More of those centres should be established in
other areas

Contraception has to be given out free on demand, and in
all schools there should be comprehensive sex education. The health system
has to be fully publicly owned, under the democratic control and planning of
working people.