#i might make more posts bc there's texts by odete santos and that should be interesting

[roxyandelsewhere]

“Dominant ideologies correspond to a set of objective conditions and to the necessities of the ruling classes. [Therefore] there are no abstract ideological reasons. They concede to the current imperious instances. [...] Times in history form doctrines. Objective conditions determine ideological positions. Class bonds give color to social attitudes. [...] Ideologies come about, embodying aspirations, forming goals, presenting justifications. [...] It is well clear that the ruling classes don’t make the laws so that they will fall on top of them. [...] The State and society condemn women for a crime when, if crimes exist, they are the crimes of the State and capitalism society themselves. [...] Facts show that the criminalization of abortion is completely ineffective. [...] Only stubbornness and political, social, moral and religious narrow-mindedness of governing forces can explain that, given the results, the definition of abortion as a crime is mantained. [...] Illegalization and penal action are, therefore, judicially ineffective and socially condemnable. They are also, directly or indirectly, a true attack against the fundamental rights of women.”

Álvaro Cunhal in “Abortion: Causes and Solutions” (1940). Álvaro Cunhal (1913-2005) was arrested in 1940, the height of Portugal’s right wing catholic dictatorship, for communist activities, and after a campaign by his friends was allowed to leave prison to defend his thesis with a state police officer by his side. The jury included some of the highest ranking figures in the government and he defended the legalization of abortion and discussed capitalism, class struggles, imperialism and how attacks to women’s rights based on religious notions of morality affect poor women disproportionately, to what was described as the police officer’s “stunned silence”. He went on to become one of the major opponents of the regime, and secretary-general of the Communist Party from 1961 to 1992. His thesis was published as a book in 1997 and abortion was legalized in Portugal in 2007 after a referendum.

#this is a big text that doesn't add anything new to any discussion but i'm reading the book where i got this from rn #and i felt like making a post about it bc hey! 1940!! and those circumstances i mean wow #álvaro cunhal absolute icon #mine.caro #álvaro cunhal #abortion cw #is that the tag for blacklisting purposes #the huge number of [...] are bc i only have excerpts anyways. this isn't his thesis book it's a book that mentions his thesis #i might make more posts bc there's texts by odete santos and that should be interesting #this doesn't really add anything to what's already vastly known about abortion there's even a lot more to it now. obviously #but i just saw the news that there's ALSO a proposal to illegalize it HERE and here this is very much still relevant