More taking pops at the Pope !

I note with interest it seems to be male straight lefties that seem to be tut tutting at the attacks on the Pope. Apparently us poofs and girlies, well, we are all a tad middle class and are attacking the working class . Hmm, don't remember hearing that when the left attack the BNP, who sadly have quite a few working class members and supporters .

What is interesting is that it is women, LGBT people and those who have suffered abuse from Priests that are getting upset and angry . And damn right . We are the ones who are affected when the Catholic Church is able to push its reactionary views and Governments enact it in law.

Now of course the Church and its members have every right to argue their views. I support that wholeheartedly . I though have the right to protest as well. And lets be clear, we are not fighting a poor downtrodden group, but a rich institution .

Back to the working class issue . Lets look at the impact of access to contraception and abortion on women and how class impacts it.

Pre the 1967 Act many women still had abortion, illegal or not. Desperate people find the means . Thing is women who were poor and working class had to resort to back street abortions or trying to induce themselves with very dodgy methods. Many died , others suffered long term harm to their fertility.

I always remember my mother (working class hairdresser married to a working class painter and decorator, see i''m not a soft bleeding heart liberal with uni lecturers for parents!) telling me about women she worked with having abortions. One woman came back after lunch and started bleeding heavily and was ill, but too scared to go to hospital. She was lucky, she lived.

My mother once worked in South Kensington where 'ladies' would pop in. It was known that they sometimes needed to see a nice doctor to sort out a personal problem. No backstreets for them, the finest Harley Street could offer.

Back to today. Many women have to travel here from Ireland for abortions . Now this costs , fares and accommodation . For some women they just don't have that money or it often takes a while to collect, resulting in a later termination. Those women with money , can hop over and get the procedure done quickly and with minimal stress.

Money has always allowed greater access to contraception and abortion, often essential when laws and religion stand in the way . So please, this is a class issue . It would be good to see leftie men supporting women and LGBT people, usually at the harsh end of these policies . The Catholic Church is rich and powerful enough to fight its own battles, but the left need to argue against its influence across the world. The personal is political, just for some men on the left they are not affected and can't grasp the anger and solidarity some of us feel .