Vowing to “fight back,” abortion rights groups held protests Tuesday evening across the Bay Area after a leaked document suggested the Supreme Court could overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion across the country.
The protests — which included rallies in San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and Dublin — came as abortion rights supporters organized gatherings across the U.S. to decry the possible end to nearly 50 years of nationwide access to abortion.
In San Francisco, the Party for Socialism and Liberation gathered at Powell and Market streets, while local supporters of the the National Mobilization for Reproductive Justice gathered for another protest at the same time less than a mile away, at the Phillip Burton Federal Building.
“We are lucky here in San Francisco, and here in California. But it should not be about luck,” San Francisco Mayor London Breed told attendees.
“This is a health crisis,” she said, equating pending health concerns of an anti-Roe ruling to the coronavirus pandemic. “This is about saving lives.”
A much larger crowd at another #abortion-rights rally in front of the Phillip Burton Federal Building, less than a mile away from the other rally in downtown San Francisco.#SCOTUS @mercnews @EastBayTimes pic.twitter.com/ITjDOvakOY
— Jakob Rodgers (@JakobRodgers) May 4, 2022
Other rallies were held at City Hall in San Jose, the Ronald V. Dellums Federal Building in Oakland and the Dublin Civic Center.
“The Supreme Court has declared war on women and abortion rights, and now is really the time to fight back,” said Patricia Gorky, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. “It’s clear that this is the way to secure our reproductive rights, our right to health care, our rights not to be forced into pregnancy.”
“Our right are non-negotiable,” Gorky added. “Health care is a right and abortion is health care.”
Their rallies came as abortion opponents hailed the prospect of a Supreme Court decision they have been seeking for decades, which could end access to abortion in most states.
On Tuesday, Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday confirmed the authenticity of the draft opinion, which was leaked on Monday to Politico. The draft’s author, Justice Samuel Alito, called the nearly 50-year-old Roe decision “egregiously wrong from the start.” Four other justices appear likely to side with Alito’s opinion in the nearly 100-page document — suggesting the court may end all federal protections for abortions and leave the issue for each individual state to decide.
If the draft opinion stands as written, it would also overturn Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 decision that protected abortion services even as it allowed states to add some limitations.
Calling the person who leaked the document a “heroic individual,” Gorky held out hope for the court to reverse its current trajectory. If it doesn’t, she said lawmakers in Congress must pass a law that codifies the right to an abortion across the country.
She pointed to the fact that a majority of Americans do not support overturning Roe v. Wade. In general, Associated Press polling finds a large majority of the public favors abortion being legal in most or all cases. Few say abortion should be illegal in all cases.
“It’s only a mass movement who can save abortion rights,” Gorky said. “Everyone is affected by this. And I think this highlights a profoundly undemocratic character of this system that we’re living in.”
At a rally in San Francisco, Christina Fouts, 21, of Daly City, held a sign that read, “Stop policing my body!” She acknowledged it will likely be harder for people in other states to access abortion than in California.
“We have to speak up for people who may be losing their reproductive rights,” Fouts said.
Fouts said she isn’t optimistic the Supreme Court will change course when it issues its final ruling, or that Congress will act.
“It’s definitely surreal,” Fouts said. “I never thought this would be an issue for me.”
Christina Fouts, 21, of Daly City, held a sign saying “STOP POLICING MY BODY!”
She acknowledged that it’ll likely be harder for people in other states to access #abortion than here in CA.
“We have to speak up for people who may be losing their reproductive rights.”@mercnews— Jakob Rodgers (@JakobRodgers) May 4, 2022
Maurice Emsellmem, 63, of Berkeley, also attended the rally out of solidarity for women affected by the issue.
“I have kids, I have a wife – everybody’s impacted in some kind of way,” he said. “This is as foundational as it gets, so everyone should care about the impact of this ruling.”
While the leak of a Supreme Court draft opinion was exceptionally rare, the court’s stance was expected, given the backgrounds of justices appointed to the Supreme Court during the Donald Trump presidency, said Nancy Kato, an organizer with the National Mobilization for Reproductive Justice who also planned a rally San Francisco. Three of the four justices that agreed with Alito’s draft opinion were appointed by Trump, in moves that tilted the court’s ideological makeup to the right and created a powerful 6-3 conservative majority.
“It’s gut wrenching but not surprising,” Kato said. “It’s just always a reality check when you actually see the thing.”
Still, she called the leak of the draft opinion “an opportunity” to organize a movement against the decision.
“It’s lit a fire and what we need to do is take that — what appears to be an inevitable (action) — and turn it on its head,” Kato said.
Staff writer Jason Green and The Associated Press and contributed to this report.
Source: www.mercurynews.com