National tensions around abortion rights have ratcheted up since the leak this month. Abortion rights supporters and antiabortion advocates — sensing the arrival of a historic moment that could reshape American social and political life — have accelerated their efforts, with demonstrations by those on both sides of the issue planned for the weekend.
Organizers behind Saturday’s abortion rights protests have designed the events as a resounding message to leaders that the majority of Americans support upholding Roe. The Senate failed to advance legislation Wednesday that would codify a constitutional right to abortion into federal law, after all 50 Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) opposed moving ahead on the bill, called the Women’s Health Protection Act.
Nonetheless, Bridget Todd, a spokesperson for UltraViolet, a gender justice group supporting women and nonbinary individuals, said Saturday’s demonstrations are pushing for the bill’s passage, as well as urging the Biden administration and elected officials in every state to protect abortion access.
“This is an all-hands-on-deck moment,” Todd said. “The writing has been on the wall for so long, and folks with the power to do something really have not done a lot in terms of action.”
Republican-led states have already moved to restrict or ban abortion, and the antiabortion movement has been clear that its goal is to achieve a nationwide ban. At this point, abortion could be illegal or very difficult to obtain in about half of states if Roe fell, affecting a majority of women of childbearing age.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said the group will be counterprotesting the abortion rights demonstrations in several cities Saturday, including in Washington, to represent the antiabortion movement.
“We don’t want Roe to see its 50th birthday, so I think there’s a lot of excitement,” Hawkins said. “Our ultimate goal in the movement is to see abortion to be unthinkable, so no woman ever feels like she has to make that choice and it’s also unavailable.”
Bethany VanKampen Saravia, 39, walked through the crowd of thousands rallying on the National Mall. The sign she carried shared her story.
“I had a baby & I had an abortion,” read the white sign bordered with sparkly gold. VanKampen Saravia wanted her message to shine.
She was 19 when she had her abortion. She told her mother, who previously had shared how her own pre-Roe abortion had been a “frightening situation” that she kept secret from everyone in her life. Years later, VanKampen Saravia’s mother finally felt comfortable opening up and proudly telling others about her health care decision.
“My abortion was a deeply personal decision for me and the thought of the government controlling that made me want to change laws,” said VanKampen Saravia, who is now a senior legal and policy advisor at Ipas, an international reproductive justice organization. “The thought of my daughter having less protection than I did growing up absolutely breaks my heart. And it terrifies me.”
It’s time to take away the stigma, said VanKampen Saravia, of Mount Rainier, Md.
She smiled down at her almost nine month old daughter Vianna Saravia. Another signer rested the baby’s stroller: “My mommy had an abortion. It is just HEALTH CARE.”
On the lawn outside of the Washington monument. Katherine Moffitt, 72, embraced…
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