Thousands expected to rally across US for abortion rights
NEW YORK: Thousands of activists are gearing up to take to US streets Saturday in a national day of action calling for safe and legal access to abortion.
The planned nationwide demonstrations are a response to leaked draft opinion showing the United States Supreme Court’s conservative majority is considering overturning Roe v. Wade, a landmark 1973 ruling guaranteeing abortion access nationwide.
“Our bodies are our own — if they are not, we cannot be truly free or equal,” says a petition from Bans Off Our Bodies, which was organized by groups including Planned Parenthood and the Women’s March.
“Across the country, some politicians are trying to make decisions about our bodies for us,” it says.
“We won’t let the abortion bans sweeping the country put our lives and futures at risk, and we won’t be silenced while our fundamental right to control our bodies is taken away.”
Protesters are expected in New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Austin and Chicago, as well as at hundreds of smaller events across the country.
The leak of the draft opinion has ignited fury over the potential rollback of abortion rights ahead of November’s key midterm elections, when control of both congressional chambers are at stake.
Democrats have pushed to codify abortion rights into federal law, a bid to pin down Republicans on the deeply divisive issue ahead of the crucial polls.
The House-passed Women’s Health Protection Act would assure health care providers have the right to provide abortions and that patients have the right to receive them.