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Students Rise up and Walk Out Across the Country for Abortion Rights

Austin, Texas, over a thousand students walk out for abortion rights.

 

Austin, Texas, May 19. 2022    Photo: revcom.us

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

Young people walk out of school and join RU4AR at Union Square.

 

Union Square, NYC    Photo: revcom.us

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.

NYC: Avenues The World School students walk out for abortion rights.

 

Avenues: The World School, New York City    Photo: revcom.us

A Message from Sunsara Taylor to the Courageous Youth Who Walked Out for Abortion Rights and All Who Care About Women

I salute the hundreds of youth who answered the call from RiseUp4AbortionRights.org to walk out of school around the country in the third week of Walk Outs that raised the demand, “Overturn Roe? Hell No!” this past Thursday, May 19. Your righteous fury, collective courage, and determination not to allow the Supreme Court to take away women's fundamental right to abortion and steal their futures is an inspiration and source of hope. As is the stand some of your teachers, parents and administrators who took part in enabling and encouraging your protest.

At the same time, these walk-outs and the broader protest and outrage in society have diminished in overall size and impact since the initial leak of the Supreme Court's draft decision to overturn Roe, precisely when mass struggle to STOP this decision from going forward needs to spread and take root among far greater numbers of youth and students and among all people of conscience and all sectors of society. In this, there is a particular role for women of the older generations and others who remember the dark days of back alley deaths and foreclosed lives before Roe to not let these youth stand alone and to instead use your influence and experience to back them up and join with them.

An urgent challenge for all—including the youth who walked out as well as all who care about women and girls and justice overall—is to work with passionate intensity and deepening commitment and consistency so that the Walk Outs and other acts of protest this Thursday, May 26, mark a significant leap among all sectors of society in making clear, through massive non-violent resistance, that we in our millions will bring the gears of society to a grinding halt before we allow the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Sunsara Taylor is the co-host of The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show and an initiator of RiseUp4AbortionRights.org

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.

LA high school students for abortion rights

 

Los Angeles    Photo: revcom.us

Student from Linda Esperanza Marquez High School at LA rally for abortion rights

 

Los Angeles    Photo: revcom.us

Los Angeles students walk out for abortion rights converge downtown with banner.

 

Los Angeles    Photo: @RiseUp4AbortionRights

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.

San Francisco: Woman with banner for RiseUp4AbortionRights.

 

San Francisco    Photo: @ProtestPix

San Francisco Rev Club and students walkout for abortion rights.

 

San Francisco    Photo: #ProtestPix

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.

Chicago: Lindblom Math and Science Academy students walk out for abortion rights.

 

Chicago, Lindblom Science and Arts Academy    Photo: RiseUp4AbortionRightsChi Instagram

Student on bullhorn leads school walkout marching through Chicago Loop.

 

Chicago    Photo: revcom.us

Chicago: Students walk out for abortion rights, marching through loop.

 

Chicago    Photo: revcom.us

In Kenosha and Racine, Wisconsin, hundreds of students at five high schools walked out and rallied for much of the day in front of the schools. Reports and photos from local media showed that these walkouts included students of all nationalities.

Kenosha, Wisconsin: High school students walk out for abortion rights.

 

Kenosha, Wisconsin    Photo: Sean Krajacic/Kenosha News

Kenosha, Wisconsin students with fists in the air for abortion rights.

 

Kenosha, Wisconsin    Photo: Sean Krajacic/Kenosha News

AUSTIN, TEXAS

In Austin (and nearby areas) there were walkouts at about 4-5 schools. These involved scores of young women, mainly, and were in middle class, largely white, schools. Students walked out at The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders, Austin, Bowie, Crockett and McCallum high schools, and Vandegrift High School in the Leander Independent School District, which has been something of a focal point in the fascist attacks on “Critical Race Theory” supposedly being taught. In the days leading up to the walkout, as many students wore green, the “antis” started wearing red bandanas (as in MAGA). The students who walked out for abortion rights were full of ferocity and determination and weren’t deterred or intimidated by the reactionaries—and there was a real sense of joy at “busting loose” in a meaningful way.

Austin, Texas, Ann Richards High School students walk out for abortion rights.

 

Ann Richards High School, Austin Texas    Photo: revcom.us

Houston, Texas protesters for abortion rights.

 

Houston, Texas    Photo: revcom .us

Other places that we heard had student walkouts include La Jolla, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Des Moines, Iowa; Tucson, Arizona; Savannah, Georgia; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Tucson, Arizona area high school students walk out for abortion rights.

 

Hundreds of Tucson-area high school students walked out of class and rallied at the University of Arizona for abortion rights. Photo: KVOA Screen Grab   

Tucson, Arizona high school students walk out for abortion rights: Hands Off Our Bodies1

 

Tucson, Arizona    Photo; KVON screen grab

Savannah, Georgia students walk out for abortion rights.

 

Savannah, Georgia   

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