We Refuse to Accept the Enslavement of Women —
WHEN WOMEN ARE NOT FREE, NO ONE IS FREE
Note: This video was released July 7 on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, and is of continuing importance. Protests have continued across the country since then. Here is a small sampling of them.
RiseUp4AbortionRights: Santa Monica, California, July 16
Photo: @iam.kaijie
“Control over women is what they want, furious women is what they've got!” echoed off the walls of downtown Santa Monica yesterday as close to 150 marched from City Hall to the local Planned Parenthood. One week before, Christian fascists and Proud Boys held a “Babies Lives Matter” rally and march where they surrounded this Planned Parenthood and forced it to close early. These fascists held another rally yesterday and there was concern they were going to march again to the Planned Parenthood.
Responding to this, the LA Chapter of Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights called for a mass rally and march: “We Won't Bow Down To Fascists! Abortion On Demand & Without Apology! Demand The Federal Government Restore Legal Abortion Nationwide Now!”
People from different parts of society take action to fight for abortion rights
Veteran Ashley Zur burns her uniform to protest overturning of Roe v. Wade. Photo: TikTok
Vets Burn Uniforms to Protest Roe v. Wade Being Overturned. Army veteran Ashley Zur lives in a state that bans abortion. On July 7, she posted this video on TikTok: She’s standing in her backyard, holding up her retired Army uniform. She tosses it into a pit, soaks it with lighter fluid, and then sets it on fire. Text appears that says, “I am NOT proud to be a veteran…. stand up, fight back!” Zur said, “I swore an oath to protect the people from foreign and domestic terrorism,” and says she believes overturning Roe v. Wade is domestic terrorism. Ashley is one of several military veterans who have posted videos—some that have gone viral—showing them burning, ripping, or destroying their uniforms in some other way, in response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. One video of a vet cutting her uniform up with a pair of scissors has gotten at least 5.1 million views.
Ohio Doctors Issue Statement: Abortion ban is “Greatest Assault on Women’s Rights in Our Lifetime.” On July 6, a full page ad appeared that was put together by a group of physicians called Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights. The letter, signed by over 1,000 doctors in the state said, “A government that takes away the freedom of women to access critical medical care and threatens physicians with criminal penalties for upholding their oath is un-American.” The letter underscores how denial of abortion healthcare “will directly lead to oppression, illness, and death of countless women. This will disproportionately affect women of color and individuals without the financial means to seek other options and will perpetuate the cycle of poverty.”
Other doctors have also been speaking out. In New York City at a rally called by RiseUp4AbortionRights on July 9, a pediatrician read the entirety of the statement from the American Medical Association opposing the Supreme Court ruling which ends: “In alignment with our long-held position that the early termination of a pregnancy is a medical matter between the patient and physician, subject only to the physician’s clinical judgment and the patient’s informed consent, the AMA condemns the high court’s interpretation in this case. We will always have physicians’ backs and defend the practice of medicine, we will fight to protect the patient-physician relationship, and we will oppose any law or regulation that compromises or criminalizes patient access to safe, evidence-based medical care, including abortion. As the health of millions of patients hangs in the balance, this is a fight we will not give up.” At a rally of 350 in Ojai, California, Dr. Emily Scibetta told the crowd, “In many states, doctors like me would have to seek emergency permission from a judge to save my patient’s life and in the time it takes to do so could watch her die. Or they could proceed without permission and pray they don’t risk jail time in doing so. In many states where abortion is illegal, there simply won’t be doctors with the skill sets to treat women in life threatening emergencies. Women will die.”
Members of the Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights coalition join a July 4 demonstration in Cleveland in support of abortion access. Photo: Ohio Physicians for Reproductive Rights / Twitter
Ad in Columbus Dispatch protesting attacks on abortion rights
Des Moines, Iowa Photo: Gabby Drees
Des Moines, Iowa, July 10. Thousands of people gathered outside the state’s capitol building to protest attempts to restrict abortion. At the rally, Sikowis Nobiss, executive director of the Great Plains Action Society, which seeks to address the trauma of indigenous people, said many Black, indigenous and migrant women have already been living without access to abortion, that “There’s never been a separation of church and state in this country. This country was built upon the oppression of the land and the oppression of the body... [and that] white Christians shouldn’t be in power….”
@ctrauty via twitter
Rage Against the Machine Protests Overturning of Roe v. Wade. On July 9 in Wisconsin, in its first performance in 11 years, Rage Against the Machine delivered a declaration: "Forced birth in a country that is the only wealthy country in the world without any guaranteed paid parental leave at the national level. Forced birth in a country where Black birth-givers experience maternal mortality two to three times higher than that of white birth-givers. Forced birth in a country where gun violence is the number one cause of death among children and teenagers… Abort the Supreme Court." Rage had announced earlier that the $475,000 in ticket sales from the Alpine show, as well as two shows at the United Center in Chicago, would go towards reproductive rights organizations in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Actions in Small Towns and Large Cities, “Red” and “Blue” States
Norfolk, Virginia, abortion activists walkout of work.
In handfuls and in hundreds people have found ways to act. In many of the actions people expressed that this attack on abortion rights “is just the beginning,” that “If we lose the right to have abortion as healthcare, what’s next?” People spoke to how the calls for July 4 celebrations of “freedom and liberty” rang hollow and that “Abortion is a human right.”
On July 12 in Appleton, Wisconsin, Sara MacDonald, an Outagamie County Board member, sat down during the Pledge of Allegiance at the board meeting to protest the loss of "women's bodily autonomy" following the overturning of Roe v. Wade, acknowledging inspiration from Black Lives Matter activists. On July 10 in Sacramento, California, soccer fans held a silent protest during the Sacramento Republic FC home game against the Oakland Roots. Others occurred in Taunton, Massachusetts July 10, Coos Bay, Oregon July 10, Jamestown, New York July 11, Rockford, Illinois July 11, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, New Bedford, Massachusetts where 100 people gathered; and Tawas City, Michigan (population less than 2,000) on July 14.
Hundreds of people marched July 9 in Anthem, Arizona in support of "human rights, women's rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, and the rights of all menstruating peoples." In Charlotte, North Carolina on July 10, The Black Abortion Defense League organized a protest. In La Jolla, California on July 11, about 60 senior citizens attended a march organized by residents of the Casa de Mañana where residents are 85 to 103 years old. One protester said, “Fifty years ago, I celebrated the passage of Roe v. Wade.... Never did we think that 50 years later, we would be mourning its demise. I’m here to say I am still fighting the battle. I’m 103 and I’m going to keep fighting.”
Students continue to step out and lead. In Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, high school senior William Gottemoller posted a notice on social media and hooked up with others to hold weekly “Thursday nights for human rights” protests. Students protested on July 10 in East Lansing, Michigan and Rapid City, South Dakota.
It is important that in states which have enacted the most severe laws, people are stepping out despite fears of reprisal. Among others, people marched on July 10 in Rapid City, South Dakota where an anti-abortion trigger law went into effect immediately after the Supreme Court ruling on July 10, in Alice City, Texas and in Broward County, Florida on July 12, and in Miami, Florida on July 13. In Bowling Green, Kentucky, the Bowling Green Freedom Walkers which formed in 2020 to protest the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, have shifted their weekly protests to defending the right to abortion.
Planned Parenthood called for a national day of action on Wednesday, July 13, focused on “Bans Off Our Bodies” walkouts. The call was to “to amplify the fight for abortion rights across the U.S., show support for abortion providers, and set the stage for future actions over the next few months. It will make it clear that we won’t back down—not now, not ever.” In Berkeley, CA on July 13 students walked out of classes and converged in UC Berkeley’s Sproul Plaza, wearing green, marching down Telegraph Avenue after a rally. In Florida, a crowd of 1,000 people gathered at the Fort Lauderdale federal building chanting “We won’t go back!” Walkouts also happened in Norfolk, Virginia; White River Junction, Vermont; and New York City.