January 26 2024, 3:32 p.m. (TheIntercept.com)<\/p>\n\n\n
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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nA pro-Palestinian demonstrator interrupts President Joe Biden\u2019s remarks during a campaign event in support of abortion rights at George Mason University in Manassas, Va., on Jan. 23, 2024. Photo: Craig Hudson\/Sipa via AP Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n
PROTESTERS CALLING FOR an end to Israel\u2019s war on Gaza confrontedOpens in a new tab<\/a> President Joe Biden earlier this week at his first major campaign rally, a Virginia event focused on abortion rights. As Biden spoke in favor of returning the baseline yet crucial protections of Roe v. Wade, demonstrators interrupted him every few sentences, shouting, \u201cGenocide Joe!\u201d and \u201cceasefire now!\u201d One called out, \u201cIsrael kills two mothers every hour!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In response, other crowd members cheered for the president and chanted, \u201cFour more years!\u201d \u2014 a particularly callous response to calls for an end to indiscriminate mass slaughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The event crystallized a false choice at the center of Biden\u2019s presidential bid. As a rematch with Donald Trump looms, mainstream Democrats invoke the precarious state of U.S. reproductive rights to scold those who object to Biden based on his unending support for Israel\u2019s genocidal war. Left-wing calls for a ceasefire in Gaza have been framedOpens in a new tab<\/a> as a roadblock, one that stands in conflict with Biden\u2019s fight to protect abortion access from further Republican decimation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FBI Overstepped Authority in Warrantless Search of Hundreds of Safe Deposit Boxes, Court Rules<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Shawn Musgrave<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n New York Times Puts \u201cDaily\u201d Episode on Ice Amid Internal Firestorm Over Hamas Sexual Violence Article<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniel Boguslaw, Ryan Grim<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI Have Lost Everything\u201d: In Federal Court, Palestinians Accuse Biden of Complicity in Genocide<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Alice Speri<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n But feminists who protest Biden over Gaza \u2014\u00a0even those who say they will likely not vote for him \u2014 are not blind to the dangers of a second Trump presidency. They are not myopic single-issue voters, willing to throw reproductive rights under the bus. Feminists opposing Biden in the name of Palestinian liberation are highlighting the cynicism of a Democratic campaign running on women\u2019s rights at home while enabling the systematic annihilation of women and children abroad.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Humanitarian agencies this month reportedOpens in a new tab<\/a> a 300 percentOpens in a new tab<\/a> rise in the miscarriage rate in Gaza since Israel\u2019s bombardment began. More than 10,000 children have been killed, and there is not a safe place in the besieged strip for a person to give birth. More than half of Gaza\u2019s hospitalsOpens in a new tab<\/a> are completely shuttered, and the rest are barely functional; cesarean sections are performed without anesthesia. Alongside a lack of clean water, food, and medical supplies, menstrual productsOpens in a new tab<\/a> are largely inaccessible to Palestinians in Gaza, of whom 1.7 million have been internally displaced. The protester who shouted out \u201cIsrael kills two mothers every hour\u201d was citing statistics from a case brought by South Africa this month, charging Israel with genocide at the International Court of Justice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Apologists for the president are demanding that for the sake of our own imperiled reproductive freedoms, we must disregard the very meaning of reproductive justice when applied to the people of Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Young voters, in particular, are not convinced. \u201cI think it would be hypocritical of me to use reproductive rights as a way to justify voting for Biden,\u201d said Saba Saed, a young woman from Michigan, when interviewedOpens in a new tab<\/a> by CBS\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation\u201d last week. \u201cBiden is aiding and sending military aid to Israel, which is airstriking Gaza and blocking humanitarian aid leading to women there who are pregnant either getting C-sections without anesthesia, not being able to be provided with prenatal care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n After Saed\u2019s interview clip drew ireOpens in a new tab<\/a> from some Biden supporters, she posted a follow-up on X: \u201cBiden caring about reproductive rights,\u201d she wrote, \u201cshould be because he believes we need to have them, not because it guarantees votes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n THERE CAN BE no doubt that a Trump presidency and a Republican-led Congress would see an end to the shreds of abortion protections currently in place in this country. Just this week, Republicans in Tennessee and Oklahoma introducedOpens in a new tab<\/a> travel ban bills that would make it a felony to help a minor leave the state to access abortion care. Nearly 65,000 pregnancies associated with rape occurred in the 14 states that have enacted abortion bans since the Dobbs decision to overturn Roe in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden warning\u2019s that it could get far worse under Trump is as uninspiring as it is gravely real. It is all the more grim coming from a sitting president, who, in his own wordsOpens in a new tab<\/a>, is \u201cnot big on abortion\u201d and failed<\/a> to expand federal abortion protections and provisions to their fullestOpens in a new tab<\/a> possible extent in his current term.Read Our Complete CoverageIsrael\u2019s War on Gaza<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Roe v. Wade decision itself was always limited in its ability to support the bodily autonomy, health, and safety of women, particularly women of color. In the years following the 1973 ruling, Black feminist organizers led the demand for a framework of \u201creproductive justiceOpens in a new tab<\/a>\u201d beyond reproductive rights, which encompasses far more than the right to end a pregnancy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fight for reproductive justice is the fight to produce, reproduce, and sustain life in conditions of freedom and safety \u2014 the very conditions the current administration is rendering impossible, from its own borders to Gaza. Accessing abortion in Palestine was extremely challengingOpens in a new tab<\/a> prior to the war; now the challenge is staying alive to navigate any such choices and challenges at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Accessing abortion in Palestine was extremely challenging prior to the war; now the challenge is staying alive to navigate any such choices and challenges at all.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Asking feminists to limit their concerns to abortion access in the U.S. is to push a liberal nationalist feminism that simply inverts the Christo-fascism of white women Trump voters. Both are predicated on exclusionary border regimes, scarcity logic, and violence against women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not a good argument, however true it might be, that Trump would be just as devastating for Palestine. Inconvenient as it may be for his apologists, it is Biden who is currently president and who could at any point choose to be accountable to the vast majority of Democratic voters who want a ceasefire. It is Biden who claims to stand for women\u2019s rights. It is not his protesters who are inconsistent on matters of justice. As Saed, the voter from Michigan interviewed on CBS, tweetedOpens in a new tab<\/a>, \u201cDo not blame me, blame Biden.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Natasha Lennard<\/a>@natashalennardOpens in a new tab<\/a>on X<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Democrats are attacking Joe Biden\u2019s critics by presenting a false choice between supporting abortion rights and opposing genocide. Natasha Lennard January 26 2024, 3:32 p.m. (TheIntercept.com) A pro-Palestinian demonstrator interrupts President Joe Biden\u2019s remarks during a campaign event in support of abortion rights at George Mason University in Manassas, Va.,… Continue reading MOST READ<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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