US groups call for abortion rights rallies
Supreme Court may repeal landmark case
Multiple US organisations that support abortion rights called on Thursday for nationwide protests on May 14, after a leaked draft opinion showed the Supreme Court poised to overturn its landmark Roe v Wade decision.
“We don’t have the luxury to waste any time,” said Kelley Robinson, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund — the political arm of the reproductive health care provider Planned Parenthood — during a joint press call on Thursday.
Ms Robinson, along with the leaders of three other national progressive organisations, called for a “massive day of action” on
May 14, and announced four “anchor marches” in New
York, Washington, Chicago and Los Angeles, as well as “hundreds of events all across the country”.
“Nationwide we are going to be expressing our outrage,” said Ms Robinson.
The groups are also urging more mobilisation throughout the summer, when the final Supreme Court decision is set to be issued.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that for the women of this country, this will be a summer of rage,” said Rachel Carmona, head of the group Women’s March, which was founded by organisers of the first national opposition rally to former president Donald Trump in 2017.
Protests already erupted around the country starting on Monday night, when the news outlet Politico published a draft Supreme Court opinion that said the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision enshrining the national right to abortion was “egregiously wrong from the start”.
“We hold that Roe and Casey [another case affirming the right to abortion] must be overruled,” wrote conservative Justice Samuel Alito in the 98-page draft.
On Tuesday, more than a thousand protesters on both sides of the hotly debated issue gathered outside the Supreme Court’s headquarters in Washington. Law enforcement in the nation’s capital, still on edge after the right-wing riot on Jan 6, 2021, have already set up temporary fencing around the court.
The leaked ruling has also thrust the issue of abortion to the centre of the November congressional midterm elections, potentially opening a path for beleaguered Democrats to stem expected losses.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday said “it will fall on voters to elect” officials who back abortion rights, and vowed to work to pass legislation in Congress that codifies Roe v Wade.
“We are seeing an energy that we haven’t seen before,” said Rahna Epting, executive director of MoveOn, during the joint press call Thursday.
“Our message to Republicans is clear,” she said. “We will see you on the streets in May. We will see you on the streets in June and we sure as hell will see you at the ballot box in November.”
Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts described the leak as a “betrayal” on Tuesday.
“Court employees have an exemplary and important tradition of respecting the confidentiality of the judicial process and upholding the trust of the Court,” Judge Roberts said in a press statement. “This was a singular and egregious breach of that trust.”
The chief justice also announced that an investigation would be launched to find out who leaked the document.
CNN reported on Thursday that Judge Roberts, in his first public event since Monday, said the leaker would be “foolish” to believe they could influence the judges’ positions, and that “one bad apple” would not alter “people’s perception” of the court.