In response to the call for walkouts put out by Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights (RU4AR), hundreds of students took part in walkouts, marches and rallies in cities around the country on Thursday, May 19. Just one week earlier, on Thursday, May 12, students around the country had walked out for abortion rights (see “Coast to Coast, Cities Big and Small: Thousands of Middle School, High School and College Students Walk Out to Stop the Supreme Court from Overturning Roe v. Wade”).

A very important and significant part of this was cores of young women taking a lot of initiative to take out RU4AR’s basic message of “Abortion on Demand, Without Apology” and mobilizing many others to fight with fierce determination against the Supreme Court and any other forces that want to overturn Roe v. Wade and take away the right to abortion. Here are some of the reports that revcom.us received. We heard that other walkouts for abortion rights have happened and are continuing around the country, beyond places with RU4AR chapters. So please keep sending reports, photos, and videos to add to this important coverage.

NEW YORK

500 students walked out from dozens of schools, including Stuyvesant High, British International School of NY, Poly Prep, Beacon School, NY ICE Middle School, Bronx Science, Dalton, Brooklyn Tech, Lehman, Trevor, and Hunter. The students got out hundreds of posters, many green bandanas and 1,000 stickers.

Sunsara Taylor and Lori Sokol, two of the initiators of Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights spoke at a rally in Union Square. The musical group BETTY performed. Two student leaders addressed the crowd, speaking to the danger women would face without the right to abortion and the need to unite and act now to stop the Supreme Court, and said that we were doing this for women across the country. Both women encouraged students to put on the bloody pants (symbolizing the danger to women if abortion is outlawed) and to get out into the streets. A student from Beacon and the group Fridays for the Future also spoke. At a speak-out, people talked about why they were “rising up for abortion rights.” Organizers from RU4AR called on people to organize many others and mobilize for Thursday, May 26: “Nationwide—Shut It Down at noon. Leave work. Leave school. Raise your voice and raise hell! Post pictures on social media with #Green4Abortion. Wherever you are… whatever you do… through wearing green and taking a stand, together we will declare: Overturn Roe? Hell No! Forced Motherhood = Female Enslavement, Abortion On Demand and Without Apology! Rise Up! Wear Green!”

People marched for an hour and shut down four lanes of traffic for blocks with lots of pedestrians cheering us on. The march stopped and blocked a number of intersections, getting the word out. People arrived at Washington Square Park where the students held a speak-out and got organized with stacks of flyers and stickers. They set up an organizing table where people came to take stacks of stickers and other materials to get out in their schools. Students organizers organized the rally and march and now have their own @rise4abortionrightsnycyouth Instagram page.

LOS ANGELES

Two students from a Catholic school said that since the draft opinion to overturn Roe was leaked from the Supreme Court, their school has been making them pray for the decision to become law (banning abortion) every morning during school announcements. Another student with her mom said she thinks it’s hypocritical that these fascists say “my body, my choice” when it comes to a vaccine but not when it comes to women controlling their own bodies.

On May 19, students walked out at the Linda Marquez High School. Students came out of the gates with force and determination. Two young Latinas led the walkout. Some antis pulled up in their car with their bullhorns and fetus porn signs. But students took their large posters of fetuses and stomped on and ripped them up. Some skater kids and some students went across the street to confront the antis and ripped up their banner that was zip-tied to the fence.

The march went to another high school that had a walkout the week before. The students here didn’t walk out today, and some of those from the march sat on the lawn to discuss how to break through and get more students to walk out for abortion rights. When the students at this high school got out, the group passed out stickers and green bandanas, flyers and posters, and two student organizers with a bullhorn called on the students to join the fight, pointing to the Nationwide Shut Down on the 26th.

There were reports that everyone in the school is talking about the call for walkouts and debating things, including how people rising up could prevent the Supreme Court from overturning Roe v. Wade.

Students at Eagle Rock High School also walked out and came to the march/rally downtown.

SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA

In the Bay Area, as part of the nationwide walkouts called for by Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, a small but spirited group came together at a convergence point at San Francisco’s Civic Center. The group included some new people who joined the Rise Up march and rally on May 14 and then started working with RU4AR.

The group marched around the Civic Center plaza and then took off towards Market St., SF’s main street. Chants of “Rise up for abortion rights, for abortion rights rise up” echoed off the buildings. The group stopped at the Twitter national headquarters building, chanting and calling on people passing by to take up the fight for abortion rights and to join in to shut society down on May 26.

Back at the Civic Center, people put their heads together and made plans for broadly reaching out in society with the call for May 26. Plans included attending a celebration in SF’s Castro district on the birthday of Harvey Milk, San Francisco’s first publicly gay supervisor, who stood for many important causes and was assassinated in the late 1970s. And, very importantly, reaching out to the high schools.

CHICAGO

The walkouts in Chicago, including how they came about, shows the potential for bringing many different sections of the people into this fight for women’s right to abortion.

At Lindblom Math and Science Academy, a predominantly Black high school, many dozens of students walked out. The school is in Englewood, one of the poorest communities in Chicago. RU4AR heard that students and teachers were talking about the attack on abortion and sent out a crew to flyer days before the walkout. One student took the initiative to organize a small team of organizers and spread the word. The next day they put out a message on an app that sends it to everyone in the school and the students loudly walked out and rallied outside the school, many with homemade signs. Later, 15 of the students came downtown to join the RU4AR rally and marched with the Revolution Club. Students reported that many teachers were supportive.

At Glenbrook North high school, in Northbrook, a well-off north shore suburb of Chicago, many students walked out. Through Instagram, a few students contacted RU4AR, which brought flyers and stickers the day before. The students organized the walkout and students rallied outside, many wearing green and RU4AR stickers. The also raised $200. 

About 60-65 people, including some of the students who walked out, came to Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago, where RU4AR and the Revolution Club set up tables and banners and held a speak out. The students who came downtown included ones from Wright City College, Lane Tech High School, Lincoln Park High School, University of Illinois at Chicago, and DePaul.