Thousands of Americans march in favor of abortion one month before the midterm elections

First modification: 09/10/2022 – 02:35

Thousands of people flooded the streets of Washington, DC and other cities across the United States to defend reproductive rights at the 2022 Women’s March.

The demonstrations take place when there is exactly one month to go before the mid-term elections in which a third of the Senate and the entire House of Representatives are renewed.

Mainly, those attending the demonstration condemned the decision of the Supreme Court, which on June 24 annulled the Roe v. Wade ruling, which regulated the right to abortion at the federal level.

“We condemn the Supreme Court’s repeal of laws in areas that are none of its business. We need to come together and fight against what is happening, and what we think is that we should support American women to make decisions for themselves.” “said Zhoreh Chayam, one of the protesters.

The Women’s March has been held since 2017, with the arrival of Donald Trump to the Presidency and those who participated in the mobilization in Washington, which ended in front of the Capitol, chanted slogans such as “abortion is a human right” and “we will not give reverse”.

Jennifer Scales, another of the women who mobilized, pointed out that abortion, for her, is a personal matter. She is now the mother of two university children and assures that she “could not be where I am now” if it were not for the two abortions that she had to undergo in her youth.

“It allowed me to have a life and offer something to my children. It’s important that they have the same right to choose that I had,” Scales added.

The right to abortion as one of the campaign banners of the Democrats

In turn, Andrea Bridgman assured that “the only good thing that can come out of that Supreme Court decision is that it motivates more people to vote.”

Since the repeal of Roe v. Wade, abortion has become one of the campaign flags both for the Republicans, who are in favor of its prohibition in all the states where they govern, and the Democrats, who defend the rights of women to access the health services that practice requires.

The elimination of the ruling means that each state can issue its own laws regarding the voluntary termination of pregnancy. 13 of the 50 states have limited access.

Sam Goldman, a protester who traveled from Philadelphia along with nine other activists defended that the right to abortion does not depend only on the courts or the government, said that “people have to face the fact that voting alone is not going to stop this ” and added that “they are waiting for the powers to solve the situation and no right for the oppressed in this country has been achieved only through the vote, not even abortion.”

However, the November 8 elections also decide access to abortion in states such as Michigan and Kentucky, where residents must determine whether state regulations allow or prohibit the practice.

A study by the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights advocacy and research group, found that more than 60 abortion clinics in 15 states have stopped providing the service since the Supreme Court decision.

With EFE and Reuters

With EFE and Reuters