You Stood by the City in Its Hour of Greatest Need and You Will Do So Again
With Roe in Peril, Thousands Gather at Marches for Abortion Rights
Nearly two weeks after the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion overturning Roe five. Wade, protesters gathered in Washington, New York and other cities.
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WASHINGTON — In the nation'south capital, protesters marched to the Supreme Court in the rain while chanting "We will not become back" and "Abortion is a human right." In New York, thousands crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. And in Los Angeles, demonstrators filled a park near City Hall to show their back up for ballgame rights.
Thousands of protesters converged in cities across the country on Saturday, nearly two weeks after the leak of a Supreme Courtroom typhoon opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade. Gathering near the Washington Monument, some wore shirts that read "Bans Off Our Bodies" and "Keep Abortion Prophylactic and Legal." They vowed to fight to preserve abortion rights, even equally some accustomed that Roe would most likely exist overturned.
Colleen Lunsford, 42, a lawyer from Arlington, Va., brought her 5-year-old daughter, Orla. Pointing to her daughter, she said she attended the march for "her future and autonomy."
"I'm terrified," Ms. Lunsford said. "We did our best to elect a Democratic president and House and Senate, and this is all the same happening."
More than 450 marches were set to take place in cities across the country on Saturday, including Chicago, Nashville, and Austin, Texas, according to Rachel O'Leary Carmona, the executive director of the Women's March, a nonprofit arrangement that helped coordinate the events.
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Organizers had been planning a national march for abortion rights earlier the draft stance leaked, but they fast-tracked Saturday's events later on the draft was published. Ms. O'Leary Carmona said she hoped the events would allow demonstrators to "build power, both civically and electorally."
"Folks are mobilizing considering they see that the hour is later on than we thought," she said.
The marches took place after the publication this calendar month of the draft opinion, which showed that the Supreme Courtroom appeared poised to overturn Roe, the landmark 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion. The court'due south ruling is not expected until June or early July.
With the midterm elections months away, President Biden and congressional Democrats are hoping to use the consequence to energize voters. Autonomous senators failed on Wednesday to advance legislation to guarantee abortion rights nationwide in the face of opposition from Republicans and one Democrat, Senator Joe Manchin Three of West Virginia.
In Washington, Elizabeth Moser, 34, a communications specialist from Shush, Va., said she hoped the marches would galvanize voters and politicians.
Although she had been planning to vote in the midterms, she said she was now considering driving people to the polls and texting her friends to encourage them to attend other rallies in support of ballgame rights.
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"I'grand out here trying to build a motion," said Ms. Moser, who wore a scarlet bandanna and held upward a sign that read, "I will non go quietly back to the 1950s."
At around 2 p.m., demonstrators began the walk to the Supreme Court as No Incertitude'southward "Only a Girl" blared from speakers and light rain began to fall, dampening posters.
Gazing at the crowd, Alla Stepanov, 26, a pharmacist who drove to the rally from Baltimore, said she was excited to encounter the show of solidarity. Still, she said she was not sure what the Supreme Courtroom would ultimately decide.
"I never thought that someone like Trump would be elected," she said. "I thought that was a joke until information technology wasn't a joke. Then in these recent years, I kind of don't know what to expect. I don't have a lot of trust."
At that place were few counterprotesters. One man standing on the sidewalk abreast marchers condemned the demonstration and carried a black sign with flames around the edges that read, "Jesus Is Coming Very Shortly." Over the noise of protesters chanting "My body, my choice," the man said he would "never shut up."
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In Brooklyn, thousands of abortion rights supporters gathered in Cadman Plaza Park before marching to Foley Square in Lower Manhattan. Volunteers offered snacks and signs with phrases like "Stand With Black Women."
Several elected officials led the group for a while on the fashion to Foley Square, including Mayor Eric Adams; Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand; and Letitia James, the land attorney general. They walked behind a green banner that read: "Our Bodies Our Abortions."
Urban center Councilwoman Crystal Hudson, who represents several neighborhoods in Brooklyn, said she was particularly concerned about what overturning Roe would mean for depression-income and Black and dark-brown people.
"Nosotros need to make certain that nosotros're doing everything in our ability to maintain access and keep abortion legal," Ms. Hudson said.
Khloe Rains, 35, a higher pupil, said she was devastated and angry when she learned about the draft ruling.
"Without abortion, I would not be here," said Ms. Rains, who stood in the Brooklyn park with her v-month-onetime daughter, Hendrix, and 3-twelvemonth-former son, Jagger. At five months meaning in November 2020, she said, she started losing large amounts of blood, forcing her medical providers to perform an ballgame to save her life.
"I very much wanted my daughter," she said, "but I was bleeding and there was naught they could practice."
For some, protesting the draft opinion was non merely almost protecting the right to abortion.
Lillian Penafiel, 35, and her married woman, Emi Penafiel, 44, worried about what the court's ruling could mean for matrimony equality, Fifty.Thou.B.T.Q. rights and voting rights.
"They've been very clear, particularly what was written up, that our rights are going to be threatened every bit well, too, and so that's why nosotros're nervous," said Emi Penafiel. "They're coming later all of it."
Many parents came with their children. Sonia Reiter, 41, who is pregnant, brought her 5-year-old son, Casio Coleman, to the march to educate him on the importance of selection, she said.
"Casio, how did we talk about today's protest, what'd we say?" Ms. Reiter asked her son. "If someone wants to be pregnant, they should be pregnant — and if they don't desire to exist meaning?"
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"They shouldn't," he replied, beaming at his female parent.
In Los Angeles, protesters filled Grand Park in front of City Hall and chanted phrases such as, "Nosotros won't go back, we won't back downwardly!" An estimated 5,000 people were on mitt.
Senator Alex Padilla, Democrat of California, took the stage to complaining the potential demise of Roe, vowing to fight for the correct to abortion in every state.
"Nosotros will not stand by and watch while extremist politicians make rules for your body," Mr. Padilla said. "You lot make the right decisions for your own body. No one else."
Renee Chanon, 84, said she has been campaigning for women's rights since the 1970s, when she outset began protesting in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. Now, one-half a century later, she said she was demonstrating against what she called a "horrifying" leaked stance.
"It'due south hard to believe that we're however doing the aforementioned matter, simply and so, if you look at your history, yous'll see that information technology took u.s. nearly 100 years to win the right to vote," Ms. Chanon said. "That's just what it's taken and what it's going to accept in our society."
Madeleine Ngo reported from Washington, and Lola Fadulu from New York. Samira Asma-Sadeque contributed reporting from New York, and Seth Gilbert from Los Angeles.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/14/us/abortion-rights-march.html
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