Thousands women gathered Saturday on 660 marches across the United States, including on the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington DC and in front of the Texas Capitol, to protest the increased state restrictions on abortion and advocate for maintaining a constitutional right to the medical procedure.
Women’s “Rally for Abortion Justice” protests were largely sparked by a Texas law which went into effect last month, banning abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, which was deemed as dark moment by Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood.
Hundreds activists braved the sweltering heat in the Texas capital of Austin to denounce the so-called “heartbeat” law signed by Governor Greg Abbott, which makes no exceptions for rape or incest, and bans abortion after cardiac activity is detected in the embryo.
The enforcement of the law is largely left to ordinary citizens who are ‘enticed’ with at least $10,000 reward if they successfully sue anyone who provided/helped provide an illegal abortion, but some of those same ordinary citizens wore signs and T-shirts saying “Abort Abbott” as well as uterus drawing next to the Texas state slogan “Come and Take It”.
Washington supporters of reproductive choice marched to the US Supreme Court that will reconvene in two days to consider a Mississippi case that could enable them to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case that established abortion rights.
If the precedent is overturned by the justices, Constitution will no longer protect abortion access giving freedom to states to ban, limit or allow it without restrictions. The US Supreme Court has already denied the abortion and women’s health providers’ request to block Texas law’s enforcement.
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