For centuries, women's rights have been a measure of the progress of human society. Among these rights, the right for pregnant women to choose whether to go ahead with a pregnancy or to have an abortion - since that became possible - is fundamental, since it affects the best of the next two decades of their lives.

This Tuesday, MPs vote over yet another Tory anti-abortion motion. If adopted, it would reduce the previous limit for having an abortion from 24 to 22 or 20 weeks of pregnancy, and possibly less. Already, back in 1990, the then Tory government restricted abortion by reducing this limit from 28 to 24 weeks. This was a reactionary measure in keeping with the reactionary policies of the Tories in every other sphere.

However, once Labour came into office, nothing was done to restore women's rights. Blair and Brown draped themselves in a religious mantle. They talked about "morality", nodded towards churches and religions, and refused to challenge the prejudices of the most backward voters. As a result, the 24 weeks limit remained, leaving women high and dry. Even today, while pledging to vote against this motion, Brown allows a "free vote" to Labour MPs, on the hypocritical grounds that some of them are Catholics!

But Brown's hypocrisy goes much further because Labour has undermined the right to abortion by other means than legislation. Indeed, where are the family planning clinics which are supposed to advise women on contraceptives and help them in the early days of unwanted pregnancies? Most of the NHS-run clinics have disappeared, due to Labour's cuts. As to GPs, who should be of some help, Labour has pushed them increasingly into money-making operations which do not consider family planning as worth it.

As always, when it comes to women's rights, it is working class women who suffer most. There is no shortage of female directors in boardrooms, even if they are a minority. But on the shopfloor and in offices, working class women remain in the most taxing and low-paid jobs. Likewise when it comes to abortion. The wealthy can afford to resort to private medical clinics if the NHS does not deliver, but the rest of us cannot. They can afford a trip to Scandinavia or Eastern Europe to by-pass legal limits on abortion. Not so for working class women. And if the worst comes to the worst and they are forced to give birth, wealthy women can afford nannies, boarding schools, etc... without having this affecting their lives!

This is why the right of women to have an abortion is an issue for all workers, men and women alike. Any attempt to undermine this right is an attack on the working class as a whole, because, ultimately, it is an attack on the rights of working people to choose the lives they want to have.

In the run-up to the Crewe by-election, Brown has gone out of his way to try to rally Labour after his debacle in the local elections.

In particular, Brown knows that the bounty he offered to rich banks - already at £90 billion, up from the initial £50bn estimate - would not go down well among Labour voters. His draft Queen's speech was aimed at showing his concern for the plight of working class people caught in the middle of a financial crisis caused by the profiteering of the very same banks that they are forced to bail out with their taxes.

However, beyond the hot air about increasing NHS accountability to patients (another "patients' charter"!) or that of the police (as if the police is likely to be accountable to anyone but itself!), there is not much which addresses the real problems we face.

Housing is at the core of today's crisis. Mortgage arrears and repossession orders are at a 15-year high and twice as many households are expected to be evicted this year. Mortgage bills are increasing as lenders use the pretext of the crisis to hike their rates. Rents, which are linked to real interest rates, are increasing too, including for tenants of so-called "social landlords". After the shortage of affordable housing of the past, we are faced with a looming housing disaster.

Yet, what is Brown planning to do about it? £200m will be allocated to buy empty properties says the draft Queen's speech. At the current average price of a 2-bedroom flat, this is less than 1,000 properties! And there is no plan to use these properties for those who do not have a roof. No, they will be used for Brown's "shared property" scheme whereby occupiers take a mortgage on half the property and pay a rent to the state on the other half - which is unaffordable for the low-paid!

In war emergencies, past governments have requisitioned buildings and factories. In today's emergency, empty properties should be requisitioned and rented out at affordable rents. The huge stock of land with planning permission that real estate giants keep for speculative purposes, should be taken over and a large-scale programme of public housing construction should be launched. Then, maybe, Brown might get the support of Crewe's Labour voters... But above all, nothing short of this will help the working class in the present crisis.