Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators from across the country
rallied Sunday to promote abortion rights in an effort to generate
legislative and voter support in an election year.
In Los Angeles, about 250 community members staged a peaceful
demonstration in front of the Federal Building on Wilshire
Boulevard to advocate abortion rights and to fight what they see as
a threat to abortion from the Bush administration.
The sound of car horns rang out with regularity as some passing
motorists aurally asserted their support for abortion rights at the
urging of demonstrators’ handmade signs.
The event was organized by Angelinos in Solidarity for
Women’s Lives and coincided with the March for Women’s
Lives, a large-scale rally which took place in Washington, D.C., on
Sunday. Police said over 500,000 demonstrators marched in the
nation’s capital.
“Our goal is to provide a forum for the people of Los
Angeles to stand in solidarity and support for the women and men
marching in D.C.,” said Christa Reiff, a fourth-year
psychology student at UCLA and founding member of Angelinos in
Solidarity for Women’s Lives.
The independent, non-profit group was recently formed by Reiff
and six other women to spread their message of women’s rights
and to encourage people to vote.
“We are students, we’re moms, we’re women of
the community ““ concerned women,” Reiff said, adding
that more than one of the group’s members has had an
abortion.
The group took to the Internet to generate interest for their
causes and draw supporters of all ages to the demonstration.
Eighth-grade student Katie Havard attended the rally with her
mother, Melissa Havard, because they could not make it to
Washington, D.C. Melissa wanted to involve her daughter in a show
of support for abortion rights.
“The thought of having an abortion for either myself or my
daughter is terrifying, but the thought of not being able to choose
to have a safe and legal abortion is even more terrifying,”
Melissa said.
The rally consisted largely of women, but a contingent of men
also peppered the crowd.
“I came out in support of my wife and my daughter,”
said Craig Spargur, a resident of Redondo Beach.
The rally’s overtly political tone of the was punctuated
by a smattering of signs condemning Bush.
Kate Sedrowski, a resident of North Hollywood, said Bush is
“trying to undermine Roe v. Wade” with his
anti-abortion legislation.
The landmark 1973 case which legalized abortion has held only a
slight favorable majority in the Supreme Court over the years.
The winner of the 2004 presidential election could be
responsible for appointing two or more Supreme Court justices, and
abortion rights supporters fear Roe v. Wade could be overturned if
President Bush fills those vacated seats with like-minded
conservative justices.
Though Roe v. Wade still anchors abortion rights, some states
have imposed waiting periods before abortions, requirements that
girls under 18 notify their parents, and other limits that have
closed abortion clinics or discouraged doctors from performing
abortions.
Last November, Bush signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of
2003, a law to end certain late-term abortions.
In one of the largest-ever demonstrations for abortion rights,
at least 500,000 people participated in the March for Women’s
Lives on Sunday in Washington, D.C.
A smaller contingent of abortion opponents assembled along a
portion of the route to protest what they called a
“˜”˜death march.” Among them were women who
had had abortions and regretted it, who dressed in black.
Speaking beyond the masses to policymakers, Francis Kissling of
Catholics for a Free Choice declared, “˜”˜You will hear
our pro-choice voices ringing in your ears until such time that you
permit all women to make our own reproductive
choices.”
Women joined the protest from across the nation and from nearly
60 countries, asserting that damage from Bush’s policies is
spreading far beyond U.S. shores through measures such as a ban on
federal money for family-planning groups that promote or perform
abortions abroad.
The rally on the National Mall stretched from the base of the
U.S. Capitol about a mile back to the Washington Monument.
Authorities no longer give formal crowd estimates, but various
police sources informally estimated the throng at between 500,000
and 800,000 strong.
This amount exceeds the estimated 500,000 who protested for
abortion rights in 1992.
The throngs gathered by the Washington Monument for opening
speeches and set off along Pennsylvania Avenue, looping back to the
Mall near the Capitol. They moved slowly, bottlenecked by their own
numbers.
Advocates said abortion rights are being weakened peripherally
through federal and state restrictions and will be at risk of full
reversal if Bush gets a second term.
“˜”˜Know your power and use it,” Rep.
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Democratic leader, exhorted the
masses. “It is your choice, not the
politicians’.”
Kate Michelman, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said
the march was about more than the right to a safe abortion.
“˜”˜The march is about the totality of women’s
lives and the right to make decisions about our
lives,” she said.
With reports from Bruin wire services.