Lots of march in San Francisco for reproductive rights
With one foot wrapped in a protective boot and “No uterus, no opinion” written across her upper body in red, Isabella Percy strolled slowly but surely through downtown San Francisco on Saturday to a rough soundtrack of drum beats and chants.
And the 17 year old wasn’t happy.
Women “shouldn’t be oppressed like we are. It’s not okay and it has to change, ”she said. “It’s 2021. It’s a modern time and we need that from our government.”
As one of hundreds of people who participated in a march from City Hall to Embarcadero, she was also among the tens of thousands of people campaigning for reproductive rights across the country a month after the US Supreme Court passed the strictest anti-abortion law in the country Nation had confirmed. The controversial ruling by the conservative court made abortion virtually impossible in Texas, banning the procedure six weeks after conception before most women know they are pregnant.
The Supreme Court is also due to review a restrictive Mississippi bill that many legal scholars predict could lead to the repeal of Roe vs. Wade and federal abortion law, allowing states to pass a patchwork of abortion laws that marginalize Meeting women is the hardest.
Protesters, including Isabella Percy, who carry a sign that reads “If you can’t have a period … shut up on my body,” gather for the reproductive rights march in San Francisco.
Clara Mokri / Special on The Chronicle
“We need to emerge for our communities in Texas, the black and brown people who are affected and the marginalized people who are affected,” said Sophia Andary, co-founder of Women’s March San Francisco and one of the main organizers of the event on Saturday.
At least 16 marches and rallies were scheduled across the Bay Area and the Sacramento region that weekend, and more than 600 across the country. In San Francisco, the participants varied according to age, race and gender – and the mood was split between fear of the future and solidarity in the present.
“It’s crazy that we’re still fighting for the rights of our own bodies,” said Harmony Vonstockhausen, a third-year student at San Francisco State University. “It’s crazy that government can still have that effect on women.”
This was the first march from Vonstockhausen. She and a friend carried signs that read, “Texas will not force a twelve-year-old to wear a mask, but she will force her to have a baby,” and “Que ser madre sea una decisión y no una obligación,” which translates to : “Being a mother is a choice, not an obligation.”
Lisa Zimmer-Chu, of Oakland, said the march went back to January 2017 when more than 3 million people flocked to the streets for women’s marches across the country protesting President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Zimmer-Chu’s daughter had just come out as trans at the time, which motivated her to take part in her first protest at the time.
“There is definitely a parallel between treating women, the earth, and treating other groups who had no voice,” she said. “I’m crazy as hell.”
“It’s about raising young people to have hope,” added her friend Louise Chegwidden. “I’m here for you.”
Others, especially younger participants, expressed anger and concern that public excitement would not be enough to overcome a simple math: the nine-member Supreme Court has appointed six Conservative judges, including three from Trump.
Protesters gather outside San Francisco City Hall to mark the start of the march for reproductive rights. Rallies are scheduled across the country this weekend, a month after the US Supreme Court upheld the nation’s strictest anti-abortion law, enacted by Texas.
Clara Mokri / Special on The Chronicle
President Biden’s administration is petitioning a federal court for an injunction against Texas law, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta is one of two dozen attorneys general who are petitioning the Supreme Court to maintain Roe, who is nearly half a century old.
Despite continued pressure from conservative governors and lawmakers to restrict access to abortion, 59% of American adults say abortions should be legal in all or most of the cases, a recent poll by the Pew Research Center found.
According to the UCSF’s Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health program, the vast majority of women who have an abortion have no regrets. Instead, research shows that denying an abortion can have negative consequences for the health and economic situation of women, “while an abortion does not lead to negative psychological or physical health outcomes in the future”.
A survey published in December found that women with lower incomes and abortion barriers were more likely to try to terminate unwanted pregnancies on their own.
Isabella Percy, 17, wears a message on her torso at the March for Reproductive Rights in San Francisco.
Clara Mokri / Special on The Chronicle
After the Texas ban went into effect, abortion providers in Oklahoma and Kansas reported an influx of inquiries from pregnant women in the state. Carole Joffe, professor of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at UCSF, said California should – and is – willing to do the same, especially if more states follow Texas’ lead.
“California will play a very, very important role” in protecting reproductive rights, she told The Chronicle on Friday. “California really is a template for how sensible abortion care should be administered.”
But even in a state with some of the strongest reproductive rights in the country, abortion is not equally accessible to all who aspire to it.
Protesters sing during the reproductive rights march in San Francisco.
Clara Mokri / Special on The Chronicle
Jessica Pinckney, executive director of Access Reproductive Justice, one of the organizers of the march on Saturday, said low-income and historically marginalized women can find it incredibly difficult to get through here for several reasons, including the need for financial aid and childcare , Transportation and leisure.
If even some Californians have difficulty accessing abortion treatment, how difficult is it for low-income women who have to travel across state lines to get the procedure?
“It’s really upsetting to think about what’s going on in Texas, given how difficult it can be even here at times,” said Pinckney.
Danielle Echeverria is a contributor to the San Francisco Chronicle. Email: danielle.echeverria@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @DanielleEchev
