After last week’s leak of a draft decision from the Supreme Court that would effectively overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, local advocates for women’s healthcare are committed tokeeping the issue front and center.
More local action: To keep up the momentum, Courageous Resistance and Indivisible of the Desert are holding a rally on Saturday, May 14 at 10 a.m. at Frances Stevens Park.
- Nationwide movement: Saturday’s protest is a part of the “Bans Off Our Bodies” day of action organized in part by the Women’s March Foundation and Planned Parenthood. There are at least 50 similar rallies planned across the country.
Instant outcry: The draft was leaked last Monday, and the next day Democratic Women of the Desert and the local Courageous Resistance chapter organized a rally outside City Hall attended by about four dozen people.
What’s at stake: In the week since the draft was released, legal experts have been sounding the alarm, saying other rights like birth control and marriage equality could be in jeopardy.
- Total ban: 13 states have ‘trigger laws’ that would ban abortion as soon as the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the closest to California being Idaho and Utah.
- Preparing for influx: One nonprofit estimates the number of people of childbearing age whose closest clinic is our state could rise from 46,000 to 1.4 million if Roe is overturned.
- Safe haven: Governor Newsom and other lawmakers say they’re committed to making California a safe haven for people seeking abortions.
