Thousands of people across the U.S. rallied for reproductive rights Saturday afternoon including San Jose community members who took to the streets in Downtown San Jose, one month before midterm elections.
That was part of the “Women’s Wave” day of action to emphasize that this year’s midterm elections is a crucial time to cast ballots for candidates who support abortion rights.
San Jose’s rally, which began at city hall and ended at Plaza de Cesar Chavez Park, featured speakers which included local Planned Parenthood representatives; mayoral candidate Cindy Chavez; state senator candidate Aisha Wahab; Jean Cohen, South Bay Labor Council executive officer; Omar Torres, San Jose District 3 councilmember candidate and other local leaders.
“One of the things that we have to know is that it's not just abortion rights,” Chavez said. “It's contraception that's on the table, it's gay marriage, it's people's individual civil rights.”
Jonathan Karpf, San Jose State emeritus anthropology lecturer, organized the rally and said that protest was an important way for women in San Jose to voice their outrage.
“The main goal is to get people to vote in November, to vote for Democrats and to vote for Proposition 1, which will enshrine abortion access in the state constitution,” Karpf said during the march.
If Proposition 1 is passed, the California Constitution would be changed to expressly include existing rights to reproductive freedom such as the right to choose whether to have an abortion and use contraceptives, according to California Voter Guide.
If it does not pass, those rights would continue to exist under other state laws, according to the Voter Guide.
Karpf said he encourages San Jose State students to fight against this attack on women and send a message to neo-fascist republicans in Congress.
“What we do know is that the female SJSU students, and only they, along with maybe their medical provider, should have control over their own bodies and their futures,” he said. “Politicians, especially white male politicians, have no business telling them what they can and cannot do with their bodies.”
Lisa Buuck, legal secretary at the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, said she was excited to be able to participate in such a waking moment as a proud woman.
“This is the most important time of our lives right now to fight out the ugliness in this country,” Buuck said.
She said she has had an abortion and wants to support the younger generation’s right to have one too.
“We are going into the handmaid's tale,” Buuck said. “I heard Arizona is trying to go back into the 1800s. We are a 21st Century country.”
Arizona banned abortions in 1864, banning all abortions except to save the life of the mother, according to Arizona Mirror, an independent and non-profit news organization that focuses on connecting public policy with society.
Abortion is only legal in Arizona if the mother is at 15 weeks, but it is illegal any time after thst period, according to Abortion Finder, an organization that helps people gain access to reproductive healthcare.
Buuck said she’s scared of the states that have banned abortions and will no longer go to those places or spend any money there.
Most abortions are now banned in at least 13 states as laws restricting the procedure take effect following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on June 24, according to an abortion-bans tracking sheet by the New York Times that was last updated on Oct. 7.
Goergia bans abortion at about six weeks of pregancy, before many women know they are pregant, according to the New York Times tracking sheet.
In many states, the fight over abortion access is still taking place in courtrooms, where advocates have sued to block enforcement of laws that restrict the procedure, according to the same tracking sheet.
“Women are in charge. Women got the answers,” Buuck said. “Let's go. Leave us alone. Give us our rights. Period.”
Isabel, who wished to go by her first name because of privacy concerns, a 33-year-old woman who is a part of Democratic Socialists of America, an organization that advocates for social change in communities and politics, emphasized that sentiment.
“We need to do much more to fight for bodily autonomy, the right to decide what to do with our own bodies – that means the right to get an abortion on demand without apology, the right to trans-care and all those things,” Isabel said.
Isabel said supporting the National Network of Abortion Funds, an organization that focuses on increasing access to abortions for low-income individuals, can help those who live in states where it is illegal.
“Locally, I think we need to fight against the crisis pregnancy centers that are misleading women every day,” Isabel said.
Pregnancy centers are clinics or mobile vans disguised as health centers that purposely scare, shame, pressure or lie to women out of getting abortions, according to Planned Parenthood, a non-profit organization that provides reproductive healthcare.
Janet Kitajima, an SJSU lecturer who teaches linguistics and child and adolescent development, said she felt motivated at the rally, she thinks the overturn is a major setback in the U.S. and is hoping the country will recover from this.
Kitajima said she thinks the overturn is a major step back in America and is hoping the country will recover from this.
“My daughters live in California, but I can't imagine the fear that must go through people in states where abortion has been criminalized,” Kitajima said.
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Staff writers Adrian Pereda and Nick Zamora contributed to this article.
