WONAAC Supported

I find Leonie Morris' letter on WONAAC less than sincere. Once more it is a Maoist or Stalinist attack on the Trotskyists and as usual it is underhand and lacking in integrity.

The 'Women's National Abortion Action Committee' otherwise known as WONAAC was set up by Trotskyist feminists and it was the first abortion action group to recognise "abortion as a woman's right".

As a feminist in 1973 I was drawn to this group by its uncompromising stand on woman's rights and the dedication and effectiveness of WONAAC women in the feminist movement as a whole. (It is only very recently that the Maoists have taken any positive interest in the feminist movement and the abortion issue with the setting up of Arc. Even now I am doubtful whether this is the expression of a sincere interest in women's rights - rather I think it is in the interests of Maoist or Stalinist political expediency; for example the constant attack by Maoist students on WONAAC.)

Let me state categorically that WONAAC is not anti-male, as Leonie Morris well knows. The constant support and morale boosting that men gave WONAAC in 1973 decided me then and there against feminist separatism. However these men (unlike many Maoist or Stalinist men, I suspect) have the maturity and integrity to realise that because abortion is a feminist issue women should lead and organise the struggle for abortion as a woman's right. Not only are men sympathetic to WONAAC content to play a supportive role but they actively encourage women to be more assertive in taking organisational and leadership roles.

As far as I am concerned Leonie Morris and her fellow Maoist/Stalinists, by seeking to discredit WONAAC and split the pro-abortion movement, are not truly interested in women's rights at all.

Like many other liberal students (not only in Wellington: note the Canterbury University and Lincoln College discontent with NZUSA) I am heartily sick of the part a small group of Maoists play in student politics. Their tactics are too often anti-democratic, dishonest and slanderous.