Women’s marches draw thousands on 50th anniversary of Roe
Published:Sunday | January 22, 2023 | 4:07 PM
MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) — Women's marches demanding abortion rights drew thousands of people across the country on Sunday, the 50th anniversary of the now-overturned Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision that established federal protections for the procedure.
Organisers focused on states after the Supreme Court's reversal of Roe in June unleashed abortion restrictions and near-total bans in more than a dozen states.
“We are going to where the fight is, and that is at the state level,” reads the website for the Women's March. The group has dubbed this year's rallies “Bigger than Roe.”
The main march was held in Wisconsin, where upcoming state Supreme Court elections could determine the court's power balance and future abortion rights. But rallies were held in dozens of cities, including Florida's state capital of Tallahassee, where Vice President Kamala Harris gave a fiery speech before a boisterous crowd.
“Can we truly be free if families cannot make intimate decisions about the course of their own lives?” Harris said. “And can we truly be free if so-called leaders claim to be ... 'on the vanguard of freedom' while they dare to restrict the rights of the American people and attack the very foundations of freedom?”
In Madison, thousands of abortion rights supporters donned coats and gloves to march in below-freezing temperatures through downtown to the state Capitol.
“It's just basic human rights at this point,” said Alaina Gato, a Wisconsin resident who joined her mother, Meg Wheeler, on the Capitol steps to protest.
They said they plan to vote in the April Supreme Court election. Wheeler also said she hoped to volunteer as a poll worker and canvass for Democrats, despite identifying as an independent voter.
Madison Abortion and Reproductive Rights Coalition for Healthcare hosted the rally with the support of more than 30 other pro-abortion rights groups, including advocates from neigh boring Illinois. Buses of protestors streamed into the state capitol from Chicago and Milwaukee, armed with banners and signs calling for the Legislature to repeal the state's ban.
Abortions are unavailable in Wisconsin due to legal uncertainties faced by abortion clinics over whether an 1849 law banning the procedure is in effect. The law, which prohibits abortion except to save the patient's life, is being challenged in court.
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