With slogans like “Forced Motherhood = Female Enslavement” and “Abortion is Healthcare,” thousands of women across the US protested for abortion rights on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. The nationwide demonstrations took place as part of the annual Women’s March, a protest against sexual assault and sexism that arose in 2017 following the election of President Donald J. Trump.
In Roe v. Wade, on January 22, 1973, the US Supreme Court granted women a national right to abortion. Last June, the Supreme Court overturned this decision with its conservative majority and gave the individual states the opportunity to issue their own rules. Around 20 conservative states have since banned abortions.
Protester calls abortion a basic human right
Sunday’s main march took place in Wisconsin, where the upcoming election could decide the balance of power on the state Supreme Court and, by extension, future abortion rights. But there were also rallies in many other parts of the country, including Washington, New York and Florida’s state capital, Tallahassee.
In Wisconsin, despite freezing temperatures, thousands of abortion advocates marched through the center of the capital Madison to the Capitol and temporarily occupied its rotunda. “This is just basic human rights,” Alaina Gato, a Wisconsin resident who protested on the steps of the Capitol with her mother, Meg Wheeler, told the Associated Press (AP). And Wheeler said she will be voting in the April Supreme Court election and volunteering to campaign for the Democrats, even though she is an independent voter. “That’s my daughter,” Wheeler said. “I want to make sure that she has the right to decide for herself if she wants to have a child.”
Eliza Bennett, a Wisconsin gynecologist who can no longer offer abortions to her patients after the repeal of Roe vs. Wade, urged lawmakers to put the decision back in the hands of women. “They should decide what is best for their health, not the legislature.”
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One demonstrator even appeared at the rally, heavily armed. Lilith K., who declined to give her last name, the AP said, brought an assault rifle and pistol and wore a combat vest. “With everything that’s happening with women and other people losing their rights and with the recent shootings […] it’s just a message that we’re not going to just take it like that,” she said.
Biden and Harris are combative
US President Joe Biden also used the anniversary for a message: The fight for abortion rights is “not over,” he tweeted on Sunday. “Today should have been the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade,” Biden wrote. Instead, Republican supporters of ex-President Donald Trump “waged a war on women’s right to choose their health care.” He has always fought to protect the right to abortion and will continue to do so, the president wrote, calling on Congress to pass legislation enshrining the fundamental right to abortion. But since the Republicans have held the majority in the House of Representatives since the midterm elections, such a law has virtually no chance of success.
In Tallahassee, Vice President Kamala Harris delivered an impassioned speech to pro-choice advocates: “How dare you?” Harris cried, to loud applause attacking recent abortion-restricting laws being passed by “extremists, including in states like Florida.” , would be adopted. “Can we really be free when families cannot make intimate decisions about the course of their own lives? And can we really be free when so-called leaders claim to be ‘at the forefront of liberty’ while daring to defend the rights of the American people and attack the very foundations of freedom? […] We won’t back down,” she assured.
In Florida, arch-conservative Governor Ron DeSantis, who is considered a possible Republican candidate in the next presidential election, has banned abortions after the 15th week – with no exceptions for incest or rape.
Sources: “New York Times”, Associated Press