LAT: In a Shift, Union Group Backs Abortion Rights

[question everything]

In a Shift, Union Group Backs Abortion Rights

The California Labor Federation votes to oppose Prop. 85, which would direct doctors to notify minors' parents.
By Joe Mathews
Times Staff Writer

August 7, 2006

California's leading union organization, bucking organized labor's long-standing neutrality on the issue of abortion, is for the first time taking a strong stand in favor of abortion rights.

Meeting behind closed doors last month, the California Labor Federation — which represents more than 2.1 million workers belonging to more than 1,100 affiliated unions — voted to oppose Proposition 85, a November ballot initiative that would require doctors to notify parents before performing abortions on minors. In a policy statement, the labor federation also urged the national AFL-CIO "to reconsider its position of neutrality on the issue." Union leaders say polling shows that a majority of their members support abortion rights, but major labor organizations generally have avoided taking stances that would turn off those members with strong moral objections to abortion... Albin Rhomberg, one of the organizers of the Yes on 85 campaign, denounced the California federation's vote and suggested that the unions were out of step with their members on parental notification.


(snip)

Among those who advocated opposing the initiative was Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers and a Roman Catholic. She pointedly told federation leaders that "I am a mother of 11 children — by choice." Huerta also persuaded the Feminist Majority Foundation — a national nonprofit group that is strongly in favor of abortion rights — to dispatch a dozen interns to distribute leaflets at the hotel where the union convention took place.

(snip)

Some rank-and-file union members who oppose abortion said they were conservatives and accustomed to being out of step politically with their unions. Others said they respected the democratic votes of their unions, even though they would have preferred that their labor representatives stayed neutral on the issue.

(snip)

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-abortion7aug07,1,2148998.story?coll=la-headlines-california

[Megahurtz]

1. I thought that they already had this

Parental Notification crap on the ballot the last time we voted in California?

:wtf:

[Omaha Steve]

2. What took ya so long

Labor has always been on the left. I'm glad this big step has finally been taken!