RALLYING CRY FOR ‘CHOICE’
Thousands attend 650+ Women’s March protests
Thousands of abortionrights supporters gathered in hundreds of rallies nationwide on Saturday for the first Women’s March demonstrations since President Donald Trump left office.
More than 650 events were held as part of the Rally for Abortion Justice — in Manhattan, Albany, upstate Seneca Falls and hundreds of other cities.
“I am sick and tired of having to fight over abortion rights,” Gov. Hochul told marchers in the state capital.
Hochul said New York would serve as an abortion “safe harbor” for women who live in states with restrictive abortion laws.
“You come to New York, and we’ll take care of you,” she said.
Abortion-rights advocates also gathered in Houston and Austin in Texas, where President Biden’s Department of Justice is challenging the state’s “heartbeat law,” which effectively bans abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy.
“I am embarrassed to be a Texan,” read one handlettered sign in the crowd of about 1,000 at the state Capitol in Austin.
In Los Angeles, journalist and former California First Lady Maria Shriver, attorney Gloria Allred and actresses Alyssa Milano and Christine Lahti addressed a crowd.
In Manhattan’s Foley Square, an estimated 2,000 demonstrators rallied, while another group crossed the Brooklyn Bridge. The entire mass of 4,000 protesters proceeded uptown to Washington Square Park.
“Who sent us? Ruth sent us!” they chanted in a shoutout to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a staunch abortion defender.
Erika Germano, a 53year-old business owner from Manhattan, expressed distress over the Texas law, which empowers citizens to sue abortion providers who defy the six-week limit.
“It harkens back to East Germany and World War II with having neighbors snitch on each other,” Germano said.
Jackie Penyak of Bethel, Conn., said she has grappled with the abortion issue.
“I might not personally make that choice, but I really do truly believe people need to stop arguing about it,” Penyak, 63, said. “It’s between you and God.”
The day’s centerpiece event was 5,000 people marching on the Supreme Court in Washington, DC.
Last month, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, refused abortion providers’ effort to block the Texas law.
And in December, the court is scheduled to hear arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case out of
Mississippi that poses a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade and subsequent Supreme Court decisions that enshrined abortion rights in American law.