National SDS Condemns FBI Harassment of UMN SDS Member for Abortion Rights Organizing

Gillian Rath, a member of UMN SDS, was contacted by the FBI several times last week with questions about her abortion rights activism and the movement to oppose predatory "Crisis Pregnancy Centers". This incident is another in a long line of FBI repression of people’s movements; the state has been targeting the student movement since its upsurge in the 1960s around the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Through the program COINTELPRO, the FBI infiltrated student organizations and targeted and harassed organizers in an effort to disrupt their activities - because their organizing had laid bare the injustices perpetrated by the state at the time. The same is true today, as abortion rights activists and student organizers fight against oppressive and unpopular policies, and in doing so, reveal that those currently in power are not working for the interests of the people.

While SDS has since redirected its campaign towards defending ethnic and gender studies at the University of Minnesota, the work to expand abortion rights and oppose crisis pregnancy centers continues through the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee (MNAAC). The FBI’s interest in abortion activism raises alarms, and both organizations firmly oppose any further investigation into our movements. Why is the FBI targeting activists instead of the religious-backed crisis pregnancy centers that deny people informed consent when making choices about their reproductive healthcare? MNAAC’s campaign to regulate crisis pregnancy centers would prevent the spread of medical misinformation and mitigate the harm these institutions cause in our communities. We will continue to organize around this issue and we will not bend to political repression from the FBI or any forces of the state.

The FBI’s targeting of UMN SDS is not an isolated event, but represents a nationwide reaction from the state toward students rising up and fighting for their rights. This uptick in state repression of student activists is exemplified by the unjust and outrageous arrest of the Tampa 5. The Tampa 5 are members of Tampa Bay SDS who were assaulted and brutalized by the police and now face felony charges – up to ten years in prison – for protesting far-right Florida governor Ron DeSantis’ attacks on education. SDSers all over the country stand in solidarity with the Tampa 5 and demand that the bogus charges against them are dropped.

From Minnesota to Tampa Bay, the state is desperately trying to crush the student movement and continue its mission of repressing progressive activism in the United States, but the people will not back down from this fight. SDS will continue to fight against the attacks on free speech and the right to protest, whether it takes the form of violent repression of activists like the Tampa 5 or FBI harassment like in Minnesota. We will continue to organize! We will continue to take the streets!