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Partly an organizational rally where "questions with answers" were invited, and partly a "circle in which we can learn from each other," feminist and author Gloria Steinem challenged a Seattle Town Hall audience Wednesday night to take back the issue of a woman's reproductive freedom.
Speaking to more than 900 people, Steinem said that the recent landmark legislation in South Dakota to ban abortions in almost all circumstances was not even the will of the state's own voters, according to polls there.
She said that the majority of "the hopes and dreams that are uniquely ours" are the same dreams and hopes that the majority of people in the United States share "that don't yet have institutions to express them."
New legislation in South Dakota was swayed by only 12 votes, she noted, and those 12 votes made abortion illegal in every circumstance except where the life of the woman is threatened.
"That is almost impossible to do -- to prove that a pregnancy would literally cause you to lose your life," Steinem said of the new threshold for an abortion in South Dakota.
There are no exceptions to the new law, even for cases of rape or incest, she said.
The law amounts to "giving the government control over a woman's womb."
She blamed the media for not providing accurate information and coverage, and even minimizing criticism of the legislation. She said some protests in opposition to the South Dakota law were ridiculed by the media.
"The media now seems to think that being even-handedly negative is the same as being objective," she said.
Steinem also took the media to task for what she said was a failure to give a close examination to the policies of the Bush administration on birth control and abortion.
The results of the South Dakota legislation, Steinem said, are to treat women as political prisoners, "forcing them to bear the children of rapists."
Steinem said the good news is that the majority of Americans still favor a women's right to choose. She said a poll in South Dakota found that 73 percent of Republicans are pro-choice.
She also denounced the Bush administration for likewise being co-opted by right-wing extremists who push an anti-abortion, anti-contraceptive agenda, but went soft on Republicans in general.
"It's important not to stigmatize the word Republican, because the great tragedy is an extremist group has taken over one of our great parties," Steinem said, calling for the audience to become more politically active, especially at the polls.
"We can inform each other," she added. "We can get out the vote. We can change these numbers."
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