COMMUNISTS in the United States have called for a strike in response to the Supreme Court overturning the decades-old constitutional right of women to access abortion.

Laura Dewey, spokeswoman for the Michigan district of the Communist Party USA, said it was time to take to the streets and mobilise in defence of women’s rights. 

“We must help build the biggest backlash against the far right, one far larger than the right-wing backlash against Obama’s election, one comparable to the women’s uprising after Trump’s election,” she said.  

Ms Dewey said that this year’s congressional elections should be used as “a front line in the battle to stop the anti-abortion assault.

“We need to be in the streets in the coming months and at the polling booths in November,” she said. 

Others have criticsed the Democrats for failing for codify the right to abortion in law, highlighting the party’s control of both houses of Congress and the presidency. 

“Democrats, we call your bluff, voting blue is not enough,” protesters chanted at a demonstration in Houston on Saturday. 

But Ms Dewey said that all means, including strike action, must be utilised to defend the right to abortion and oppose extremist Republican policies. 

Anger has swept the country, with protests taking place outside the US Supreme Court and in many other locations. 

The homes of the judges that voted to overturn the federal right to access abortion were also targeted over the weekend. 

The addresses of the judges, including Brett Kavanaugh and Clarence Thomas, were posted on social media platforms including TikTok as outrage over the Friday’s ruling swept the country. 

A number of comments included suggestions that those who voted to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision be targeted by pipe bombs. 

US President Joe Biden has condemned the Supreme Court decision, but called for protesters to remain peaceful. 

“I call on everyone, no matter how deeply they care about this decision, to keep all protests peaceful. Peaceful, peaceful, peaceful. 

“No intimidation. Violence is never acceptable. Threats and intimidation are not speech. We must stand against violence in any form regardless of your rationale,” he said. 

Friday’s announcement has already seen abortion clinics across the US shutting their doors, with others set to follow as right-wing protesters gathered outside demanding their closure. 

Thirteen US states – Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Texas, Oklahoma and Wyoming – have so-called trigger laws in place, leading to an immediate ban on abortion.

Millions of women will be affected by the decision , which was taken by just six conservative judges, to scrap the constitutional right to an abortion.

Polls show that a majority of US citizens oppose overturning Roe v Wade and handing the decision back to individual states. Only one in 10 support an outright ban on abortion.