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Thousands of people took to the streets of cities across the country on Saturday to demand that lawmakers and judges protect people’s rights and access to abortion as the country’s highest court prepares to hear its largest reproductive rights issue for decades.
It was the first women’s march in the Biden administration, and it came a month after the Supreme Court took no action to prevent Texas’s six-week abortion ban from taking effect, putting the vast majority of abortions end in the state. Texas is the first state to enforce an early abortion ban in decades Roe vs. Wade, the landmark decision that made abortion legal across the country.
Now the Supreme Court, which begins its new term on Monday, is due to hear arguments in December over a Mississippi law that bans nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. In this case, judges will re-examine a key principle of reproductive rights: that states cannot ban abortions until a fetus is viable – usually around week 24 at the earliest. A move in favor of Mississippi would encourage other Republican-led states to impose sweeping bans on early pregnancy abortion.
In Washington DC on Saturday, demonstrators walked to the Supreme Court, chanting “My body, my choice”. During the speeches, activists repeatedly referred to Texas law, SB 8, which prohibits almost all abortions after detection of fetal heart activity – usually around week six of pregnancy, when many people don’t even know they are pregnant. The law is unusual in that it relies on individuals rather than the government to enforce the ban, which begs the question whether Texas has found a way to structure an early abortion ban to avoid a constitutional challenge.
Addressing the crowd gathered in DC’s Freedom Plaza, Texan Anna Li described the obstacles she had to overcome to have an abortion at the age of 17. Texas is one of the many states that require minors to obtain parental consent to have an abortion. But Li’s parents were overseas, so she had to get permission from a judge to terminate her pregnancy.
“Do you know what I wanted to tell the judge? I am not a baby machine and I should be able to decide if and when I will get pregnant,” Li said to the cheers.
She eventually had an abortion after six weeks due to delays caused by the requirement, said Li, a policy intern at Deeds Not Words, an Austin-based women’s empowerment organization. But if SB 8 had been in effect, it could not have obtained it.
“No one should have to go to a judge to get permission to have an abortion,” Li said. “No one should worry about being sued for helping their friend and no one should stand in the way. out of my way when I want contraception, a plan B or an abortion. “
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