International Support Does Make A Difference
The IFN has supported many different cases over the past four years. Below we report three of the success stories — demonstrating the effects of international
response
NOREEN WINCHESTER, BELFAST
Noreen Winchester is an Irish woman who, when 20 years old, was given a seven year sentence in Armagh Women's Prison in Northern Ireland for killing her father. Ms. Winchester had been subjected to sexual assaults by her father since her mother's death when she was 13. Her father had also raped her younger sisters and threatened to kill her and her four sisters and three brothers if she told anyone about.
One evening in the spring of 1976 after being raped again by her drunken father, in a desperate attempt to end their nightmare, Noreen and one of her sisters drove a knife into the father's neck, killing him instantly. Terrified at what they had done, they enlisted the help of one of their brothers and dragged the body to a nearby trench, hoping it would appear to be a sectarian assassination. But the police soon found out what had happened and Noreen was charged with murder/ manslaughter.
She was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years imprisonment. At her trial, the judge said that "she had been a willing partner for years" and "she had had plenty of occasion to tell the police about the incest". Moreover, the judge issued a more restrictive ruling than usual, and instructed reporters to give only the bare details of the case in the press, making them unwilling to go into the case too deeply for fear of jeopardizing their press privileges
After the story of Noreen Winchester appeared in the ISIS Bulletin, the Noreen Winchester Committee was contacted by organisations and individuals all over the world who promised to start actions and demonstrations if Noreen were not released
As soon as the leave to appeal to a higher court was refused, Noreen's lawyer, Patricia Drinan, put in a petition for Noreen to get the Royal Prerogative of Mercy and at the same time the Noreen Winchester Committee sent to Mr. Roy Mason (Secretary of State in Northern Ireland) notice that actions would be raised in five European countries and in America, Canada and Australia. Evidently giving some consideration to the reputation of British justice. Mason released Noreen.
Monique Moller, of the Noreen Winchester Committee, stressed that other important gains besides the release of Noreen Winchester were also made. " A n important issue of this case is that in Belfast the fact of incest (occurring in 20-40% of families!) came to light. Political parties are currently involved in taking measures against it. Social workers who had expressed their views that "incest was part of the culture and could not have mattered very much", must now take it into account. Judges will be more careful in the future, and it is not likely that such an atrocious sentence will be pronounced again".
NORMA JEAN SERENA, U.S.A.
Norma Jean Serena is a Native American woman from western Pennsylvania who, in 1970, was sterilized against her will and without her knowledge. Why was she sterilized? Employees of the Armstrong County Welfare Department decided that because she was poor, because she was a Native American, and because she lived with a Black man, she was an "unfit mother". Together with medical personnel, the caseworkers authorized a "therapeutic" sterilization, listing her "socioeconomic status" as the medical reason. The sterilization was in no way necessary for Ms. Serena's health.
But welfare interference didn't end with sterilization. Norma Jean Serena's three children were taken away from her as well. She was told that they were seriously ill, which they weren't, and that they would be returned when they "recovered". Meanwhile, plans were made for the children to be adopted. They were placed in foster homes and kept from her, illegally, for more than three years
Norma Jean Serena sued ten professionals — both as individuals and in their official capacities - and a hospital, charging them with seven counts of conspiracy and violations of her constitutional rights. Her case finally came to trial almost eight years later. The verdict, arrived at by an all-white jury of six men and two women, declared that the two social workers were guilty of misrepresenting Serena's case and had placed her children in foster homes under false pretenses. As compensation for that and for the years Serena spent trying to get her children back, the court awarded her $17,000
However, the jury decided that Serena had given consent for However, the jury decided that Serena had given consent for her sterilization, although the paper she signed was dated the day after the operation. The doctor testified that he had explained the operation to Serena before hand and she had agreed to it. According to her defense committee, she signed are quest for sterilization a day after delivering her baby, who was placed in foster care on the false premise that he was ill.She was then sterilized, and on the following day she signed the consent form. This haphazard, unconsidered procedure is what the new Health Education and Welfare (HEW)guidelines are supposed to prevent; now there must be a 30 day waiting period in between signing consent forms and having a federally funded sterilization procedure. This is of little use to Norma Jean Serena, but her case did have some impact on HEW's decision to set up guidelines
CONCEICAO MASSANO, PORTUGALCONCEICAO MASSANO, PORTUGAL
In October of 1979, Conceicao Massano, a young Portuguese woman then twenty two years old went on trial in a Lisbon court, accused of having had an abortion three years earlier.Under Portuguese law, Conceicao faced a possible sentence of two to eight years imprisonment. The friends who gave her the midwife's address and her husband who accompanied her were also charged, and faced sentences of four years each.
When Conceicao had the abortion, in 1976, she was still a When Conceicao had the abortion, in 1976, she was still a student nurse in a small provincial town. Her childhood spent in orphanages, Conceicao was very eager to finish her studies and build herself an independent and happy life. Her boyfriend,now her husband, was at the time a worker who earned less than a hundred US dollars a month. For Conceicao to assume her pregnancy, she felt sure, would have meant expulsion from school
On the date of the trial several hundred women demonstrated On the date of the trial several hundred women demonstrated in support of Conceicao, bearing a 3,000-signature petition of women who said they had had abortions and who demanded to be prosecuted.
Conceicao Massano Dos Santos was acquitted.
The following is a copy of a letter of support sent on behalf of The following is a copy of a letter of support sent on behalf of Conceigao Massano. It is reprinted here as an example of how such letters can be worded.
Exmo Senhora Presidente da Assembleia da Republica Assembleia da Republica LISBOA Portugal
Dear Madam President,
It has come to our attention that a young woman, Conceicao Massano dos Santos from Almodovar, is now going on trial for the "crime" of an abortion which she had in 1976. It seems she is now married to the man who was her boyfriend, and has a daughter two years old. Both her husband and a woman friend are being incriminated as well since they helped her to have the abortion.
As an international women's network with members in 130 countries of the world, we must voice our very deep concern countries of the world, we must voice our very deep concern over the fact that abortion is still considered a crime in your country, and that women are also severely prosecuted for it.We are appalled to know that women who suffer so much with the burden of too many children, with the failure of contraceptives (or with their harmful effects), and with the degradation of rape and incest, are made to suffer yet again at the hands of a State which considers them criminals for trying to make their lives more bearable, and for trying to bring into the world only wanted and loved children. We feel sure that you are ready to review the Portuguese Penal Code,which is more than a century old on this issue, and that prosecutions like that of Conceicao Massano dos Santos will no longer to tolerated in a country which we know is deeply concerned with the rights of people.
We would therefore strongly urge you to not only intervene in this case, but also to take steps to change the law on abortion, to meet the interests of Portuguese women — more than 50% of your population — and thus set an example to the many countries where women are still harassed and persecuted for wanting to control their own reproduction.
Thank you for taking our concern seriously.