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womens march
'Unite and Resist': Women's Day Rallies Against Trump Held From Coast to Coast
"This is our day to stand together, make our voices heard, and show the world that we are not backing down," said Women's March.
Mar 08, 2025
Women and their allies took to the streets of cities and towns from coast to coast Saturday for a "Unite and Resist" national day of action against the Trump administrationcoordinated by Women's March.
"Since taking office, the Trump administration has unleashed a war against women driven by the Project 2025 playbook, which is why, more than ever, we must continue to resist, persist, and demand change," Women's March said, referring to the Heritage Foundation-led blueprint for a far-right overhaul of the federal government that, according to the Guttmacher Institute, "seeks to obliterate sexual and reproductive health and rights."
"This is our day to stand together, make our voices heard, and show the world that we are not backing down," Women's March added. "Women's rights are under attack, but we refuse to go backward."
Women's March executive director Rachel O'Leary Carmona asserted that "the broligarchy that owns Trump is working to 'flood the zone' with hateful executive actions and rhetoric, trying to overwhelm us into submission."
"But we refuse to lose focus," she vowed. "We refuse to stand by."
In San Francisco, where more than 500 people rallied, 17-year-old San Ramon, California high school student Saya Kubo gave the San Francisco Chronicle reasons why she was marching.
"Abortion, Elon Musk, educational rights and trans rights, LGBTQ rights, climate change—all of these things, I am standing up for what I believe in," she said.
Her mother, 51-year-old Aliso Kubo, said that "we came out here specifically to support my daughter and women's rights."
Thousands rallied down the coast in Los Angeles, where protester Pamela Baez told Fox 11 that she was there to "support equality."
"I think I mostly want people to be aware that women are people. They have rights," Baez said. "We just want to show everybody that we care about them. People deserve healthcare. Women deserve rights."
Thousands of people rallied on Boston Common on a chilly but sunny Saturday.
"We are the ones who are going to stand up," participant Ashley Barys told WCVB. "There is a magic when women come together. We can really make change happen."
Boston protester Celeste Royce said that "it was really important for me to be here today, to stand up for human rights, for women's rights, to protect bodily autonomy, to just make myself and my presence known."
Sierra Night Tide told WLOS that seeing as how Asheville, North Carolina had no event scheduled for Saturday, she "decided to step up and create one."
At least hundreds turned out near Pack Square Park for the rally:
Today at the Women's March in Asheville, NC pic.twitter.com/BPAIZORSUd
— Senior Fellow Antifa 101st Chairborne Division (@jrh0) March 9, 2025
"As a woman who has faced toxic corporate environments, living with a physical disability, experienced homelessness, and felt the impact of Hurricane Helene, I know firsthand the urgent need for collective action," Night Tide said. "This event is about standing up for all marginalized communities and ensuring our voices are heard."
Michelle Barth, a rally organizer in Eugene, Oregon, told The Register Guard that "we need to fight and stop the outlandish discrimination in all sectors of government and restore the rights of the people."
"We need to protect women's rights. It's our bodies and our choice," Barth added. "Our bodies should not be regulated because there are no regulations for men's bodies. Women are powerful, they are strong, they're intelligent, they're passionate, they are angry, and we're ready to stand up against injustice."
In Grand Junction, Colorado, co-organizer Mallory Martin hailed the diverse group of women and allies in attendance.
"In times when things are so divisive, it can feel very lonely and isolating, and so the community that builds around movements like this has been so welcoming and so beautiful that it's heartwarming to see," Martin told KKCO.
In Portland, Oregon, protester Cait Lotspeich turned out in a "Bring On the Matriarchy" T-shirt.
"I'm here because I support women's rights," Lotspeich
said in an interview with KATU. "We have a right to speak our minds and we have a right to stand up for what is true and what is right, and you can see that women are powerful, and we are here to exert that power."
The United States was one of dozens of nations that saw International Women's Day protests on Saturday. In Germany, video footage emerged of police brutalizing women-led pro-Palestine protesters in Berlin.
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Hundreds of Progressive Groups Back Starbucks Union Push as New CEO Arrives
"Instead of continuing on the current path Starbucks has taken, we urge you to create and build a healthy working relationship with unionized partners."
Apr 11, 2023
A progressive coalition representing 62 million people and nearly 500 member organizations on Tuesday urged new Starbucks CEO Laxman Narasimhan to end the coffee giant's hostility toward unioned workers and organizers across the United States.
Since workers in Buffalo, New York won a historic election to form Starbucks' first U.S. union in December 2021, employees at hundreds of locations throughout the nation have started organizing—and have been met with union-busting tactics from the company.
Narasimhan took over for former CEO Howard Schultz late last month, just before Schultz—facing a subpoena threat—testified before the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, chaired by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Ahead of Schultz's testimony, the HELP Committee released a report pointing to dozens of National Labor Relations Board complaints against Starbucks and explaining that "though the coffee giant claims they are a 'progressive' company, there is mounting evidence that the $113 billion-dollar company's anti-union efforts include a pattern of flagrant violations of federal labor law."
In their Tuesday letter, civil rights, environmental, gender justice, and labor groups wrote to Narasimhan, "It's our hope that you uphold Starbucks' reputation as an inclusive and welcoming third place for the community by taking this opportunity to redefine the company's relationship with Starbucks partners working in cafes, reserve stores, and roasteries across the country."
"While our organizations represent many facets of the progressive movement, we know our fights are inextricably linked to that of Starbucks Workers United."
"We stand by workers exercising their fundamental and constitutional right to form a union," the progressive coalition emphasized. "Freedom of association is a constitutional right, and by joining together to bargain collectively with employers, unions give workers the opportunity to have their voices heard and help make decisions to make meaningful changes in their workplaces."
"Unions are good for workers, businesses, our economy, and our democracy," the coalition continued. "They are vehicles that advance equity across class, race, sexual orientation, gender, and immigration status. While our organizations represent many facets of the progressive movement, we know our fights are inextricably linked to that of Starbucks Workers United. We cannot have justice—racial, gender, immigrant, climate—without economic justice."
The letter concludes by highlighting how Narasimhan can chart a new path: "Instead of continuing on the current path Starbucks has taken, we urge you to create and build a healthy working relationship with unionized partners. We encourage you to affirm workers' legal right to organize a union by signing the fair elections principles and by committing to bargain in good faith with over 7,500 workers who have formed Starbucks Workers United."
Signatories include the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, Communications Workers of America, Community Change Action, Center for Popular Democracy, Greenpeace, MoveOn, National Education Association, People's Action, Public Citizen, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), Sierra Club, Sunrise Movement, UltraViolet, United We Dream, and Women's March.
"Starbucks has repeatedly, shamelessly, and illegally stood in the way of partners who are demanding a voice in their workplace and a strong contract to build a better future for themselves and their families," said SEIU international president Mary Kay Henry. "Narasimhan has an opportunity to stop the company's unprecedented, unpopular campaign of union-busting and instead partner with its workers and their union to build a Starbucks that truly lives up to its stated progressive values."
AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler pointed out that "Starbucks has always referred to its employees as partners" and "under new leadership, the company now has the chance to treat its workers like partners."
Community Change president Dorian Warren noted that Narasimhan could "set a powerful example for corporate America by committing to bargain in good faith with the thousands of workers who make his company's success possible."
"The importance of organizing can never be overstated," Warren added. "We are proud to support the Starbucks workers who are forming unions, and asking for higher wages, better benefits, and more control over their workplace conditions. We cannot forget that unions are one of the most important tools we have to protect and strengthen our democracy and build equity for all."
Group leaders also stressed that they represent millions of members and massive movements that support unionization efforts at Starbucks.
"Women's March unites with Starbucks workers—a workforce that is more than 70% women and women of color—as they organize tirelessly to take on the challenges they face in their workplace," said executive director Rachel Carmona. "This is not just a matter of fairness and justice—but a women's rights issue."
MoveOn executive director Rahna Epting declared that "Starbucks' record to date on unions has been distasteful, disrespectful, and disingenuous."
"Millions of members of MoveOn support workers' rights and want Starbucks to do right by the people who work for your company," she told the new CEO. "Your partners should be able to exercise their rights to freely and fairly organize and negotiate over their working conditions without fear of retaliation."
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Texas Ruling Could Have 'Devastating' Impact on Access to Abortion Pills Nationwide
"This isn't about what the overwhelming majority of Americans want," said one advocate. "It's about a small group of people who want control over women's freedom to choose, and will seek any means to achieve it."
Feb 09, 2023
Abortion rights advocates are "watching and hoping that evidence-based care will prevail" in a federal court case in Texas, said one physician this week as a judge appointed by former President Donald Trump is expected to rule as soon as Friday on the Food and Drug Administration's authority to approve one of two drugs commonly used for medication abortions.
In a lawsuit filed by the right-wing Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk will review the final arguments on Friday, and is expected to soon rule on whether the FDA's approval of mifepristone should be revered more than two decades after the drug was first made legal.
Less than a year after the right-wing majority of the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and cleared the way for at least 13 states to impose bans on abortion care, a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would cause fresh "chaos" in the reproductive care landscape, according to abortion provider Dr. Kristyn Brandi. If Kacsmaryk rules in favor of the right-wing group, mifepristone would be banned even in states where abortion remains legal.
"A court case in Texas could easily turn into a nationwide ban on the most commonly prescribed medication abortion in the coming weeks through underhanded judicial tactics."
More than 3.7 million people have used mifepristone, which is taken alongside misoprostol in order to induce an abortion, since it was approved in the United States. Medication abortions now account for 53% of abortions in the U.S., and the FDA in recent years has made them more accessible by allowing patients to obtain the pills at telehealth visits and to get them through the mail and, last month, by allowing certified pharmacies to dispense the medication.
Alliance Defending Freedom and other pro-forced pregnancy groups have claimed the FDA was careless with patients' health when it approved mifepristone, even as clinical trials have shown it to be safer than penicillin, Viagra, and Tylenol.
Advocates say the reversal of the FDA's approval would endanger millions of people who need abortions, as many would be left with only the option of a surgical abortion in clinics, which have become overburdened as people travel from states that have banned or severely restricted access.
"This ruling could be devastating for abortion care," Andrea Miller, president of the National Institute for Reproductive Health, told The Guardian on Thursday. "Cutting off critical access to abortion medication—which is the preferred method for more than half of abortion patients in the country—would cause significant harm, especially at a time when Dobbs has made it difficult or impossible for many to get care at clinics."
Some clinics have begun mobilizing to prepare healthcare workers to provide misoprostol-only medication abortions.
"No matter the case outcome, Planned Parenthood health centers will remain committed to doing whatever possible to ensure patients can choose the method of abortion that is best for their circumstances, including medication abortion," Danika Severino Wynn, vice president of abortion access at Planned Parenthood, told Jezebel on Tuesday.
Taking only misoprostol to induce an abortion has a lower success rate than taking the combination of pills—88% compared to 98%—and misoprostol-only abortions carry a greater risk of side effects. Both factors could complicate matters for people who live in states with abortion bans and decide to travel out-of-state to receive care to avoid potential prosecution. As The 19th reported on Tuesday:
Some patients will have to decide if they want to take the pills in their home state, where it is outlawed, or if they want to take them before traveling home, navigating severe cramps and even vomiting while making an hours-long drive or flight.
And because misoprostol only has a higher failure rate, patients traveling out of state could face other risks. If they return home and learn the abortion has failed, multiple experts said, patients may not know where or how to find safe care in their home states, or may need to make another expensive trip across state lines.
"It's really hard as a provider to know there's a medication that works better than other options and not be able to offer that because of politics," Brandi, who chairs the board of the advocacy group Physicians for Reproductive Health, told The 19th.
Greer Donley, an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh Law School, noted that in addition to harming pregnant people, a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would have "serious and broad implications" for all drugs approved by the FDA and for the agency's authority.
Rights advocates this week noted that Kacsmaryk recently ruled against a federal program that allows teenagers in Texas to access birth control without their parents' permission.
Rights groups Women's March and UltraViolet on Thursday announced plans for a rally and march on Saturday in Amarillo, Texas, where the ruling will be handed down.
"A court case in Texas could easily turn into a nationwide ban on the most commonly prescribed medication abortion in the coming weeks through underhanded judicial tactics," said Rachel Carmona, executive director of Women's March. "This isn't about what the overwhelming majority of Americans want; it's about a small group of people who want control over women’s freedom to choose, and will seek any means to achieve it."
"This fight is bigger than Roe," she added. "This is about freedom, democracy, and fundamental human rights.”
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Thousands Across US Demand Reproductive Freedom on Roe's 50th Anniversary
"The overwhelming majority of Americans in all states support abortion rights—and women will fight to protect our rights and our lives," said the executive director of Women's March.
Jan 22, 2023
Thousands of people called for reproductive freedom at rallies around the United States on Sunday—the 50th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that made abortion a constitutional right until the Supreme Court's reactionary majority overturned it last summer.
At more than 200 events in 46 states, demonstrators condemned the court's 6-3 opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which enables states to curtail or even prohibit access to reproductive healthcare. Since the ruling was handed down on June 24, Republican lawmakers have enacted deadly abortion restrictions in 26 states, including near-total bans in several.
"Fifty years after the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, a radical right-wing movement hijacked our courts and eliminated federal protections for abortions," said Rachel O'Leary Carmona, executive director of Women's March, which organized Sunday's "Bigger Than Roe" day of action.
"But as the fight turns to the states, they are going to learn that the overwhelming majority of Americans in all states support abortion rights—and women will fight to protect our rights and our lives," she added.
Carmona spoke at the Wisconsin state capitol. Women's March picked Madison rather than Washington, D.C. as the location of this year's national protest because the group wanted to send "a clear message to elected leaders and to our base—we are going to where the fight is, and that is at the state level."
"We'll start in Wisconsin, where an upcoming Supreme Court election this spring will determine the balance of power on the state's Supreme Court and the future of abortion rights in Wisconsin," the group explained.
Due to legal uncertainty around the status of Wisconsin's pre-Roe abortion ban, enacted in 1849, providers have been forced to stop offering abortion care in the state.
Women's March—with the support of nearly 50 organizations, including Planned Parenthood, Working Families Power, and the National Organization for Women—orchestrated "sister marches" in cities across the country.
"We are taking the fight to the states," organizers said. "From Wisconsin, to Nebraska, to Georgia, to Arizona and Texas, women and our allies are defending abortion rights where they still stand, and working to put measures on the ballot to regain abortion rights in places where politicians are putting their agendas over the will of the people."
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Nationwide 'Bans Off Our Bodies' Rallies Planned for Saturday
"With the Supreme Court planning to overturn Roe v. Wade, we are at a tipping point in the fight to be able to make decisions about our own bodies, lives, and futures."
May 13, 2022
People across the United States are planning to take to the streets on Saturday, May 14 to protest right-wing attacks on abortion rights, including the looming reversal of Roe v. Wade.
Pro-choice groups--including Planned Parenthood organizations, Liberate Abortion, MoveOn, Service Employees International Union, UltraViolet, and Women's March--are putting together marches, rallies, and other events for the "Bans Off Our Bodies" day of action.
A searchable list of events is available at BansOff.org.
In addition to five anchor demonstrations planned in Austin, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, and Washington, D.C., more than 200 events are scheduled to "demonstrate the massive support for abortion rights nationwide, and make clear to the public just how serious the threat to those rights is in this moment," according to Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
Senate Republicans and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Wednesday blocked a final vote on the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA), which would affirm abortion rights at the federal level. Calls for passing the bill have built up since a draft U.S. Supreme Court opinion leaked last week.
As the Center for Reproductive Rights explained:
The rallies are in response to the publishing by Politico of a draft Supreme Court opinion in the center's case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, that would overrule Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey and rule there is no constitutional right to abortion. Such a ruling would mark the first time in history that the U.S. Supreme Court has taken away a fundamental right.
Chief Justice John Roberts has confirmed that the draft was authentic, but that it is not the final opinion of the court. The final opinion is expected before the end of the court's term at the end of June.
If the high court does reverse Roe and Casey, abortion could be banned in over half the country due to "trigger" laws and other legislation, according to the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute.
"Either abortion will be outlawed in your state or your state will become a state that needs to start providing abortions to people who are coming from out of state. So this will have an impact on every single person in this country," Kimberly Inez McGuire, executive director of URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity, recently told Glamour.
After the WHPA vote this week, Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Alexis McGill Johnson said that "politicians opposed to abortion rights are not stopping here--they have made it clear that their ultimate goal is to ban abortion nationwide."
"With the Supreme Court planning to overturn Roe v. Wade, we are at a tipping point in the fight to be able to make decisions about our own bodies, lives, and futures," she added. "We will not back down, and we will not forget those who put politics over our health and rights."
As part of Planned Parenthood's #BansOffOurBodies campaign, more than 160 young celebrities signed their names to a full-page New York Times advertisement that ran on Friday to promote the weekend protests. Their message on abortion rights was that "we will not go back--and we will not back down."
Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, which has held actions throughout the week in response to Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion, also has dozens of U.S. events planned for Saturday. Protest leaders from the group said Friday that "the end of Roe v. Wade would be one of the most significant reversals of a fundamental human and civil right in this country's history."
"If you care about women and girls... if you refuse to inherit, or pass on, a world that is hurtling backwards," they continued, "get organized and connect with us. Spread the word to friends, family, and other networks. NOW is the time to rise up, together, as if our lives depend upon it--for, in fact, they do."
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Billie Eilish, Ariana Grande, and More Vow Young People 'Will Not Back Down' on Abortion Rights
"Should the Supreme Court take away the constitutional right to safe, legal abortion, young people stand to lose the most," said Planned Parenthood Federation of America's Alexis McGill Johnson.
May 13, 2022
Ahead of nationwide pro-choice rallies planned for the weekend, Grammy-winning pop stars Billie Eilish and Ariana Grande were among more than 160 artists, actors, and other famous figures who declared in a full-page New York Times advertisement on Friday that young people intend to fight for abortion rights.
"Our power to plan our own futures and control our own bodies depends on our ability to access sexual and reproductive healthcare, including abortion."
"The Supreme Court is planning to overturn Roe v. Wade, taking away the constitutional right to abortion," the ad states, referencing a draft opinion leaked last week. "Our power to plan our own futures and control our own bodies depends on our ability to access sexual and reproductive healthcare, including abortion."
"We are artists. Creators. Storytellers. We are the new generation stepping into our power. Now we are being robbed of our power," the ad continues. "We will not go back--and we will not back down."
The ad also promotes the website for "Bans Off Our Bodies" rallies that Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA), UltraViolet, Women's March, and other reproductive freedom advocates are organizing for Saturday, May 14.
"Should the Supreme Court take away the constitutional right to safe, legal abortion, young people stand to lose the most," said PPFA president and CEO Alexis McGill Johnson. "So many of us--who grew up with the understanding that Roe was settled law--could have never imagined that our own children would have fewer rights and less freedom over their own bodies and futures."
"What we see in young people from all walks of life is that they aren't backing down--not today, not ever," she added. "Like the artists who signed on to this ad, their resolve to keep bans off their bodies is a source of hope during a dark time, and we are determined to keep fighting alongside them, for them."
Others who signed on to the ad include musical artists Miley and Noah Cyrus, Camila Cabello, Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and Megan Thee Stallion; models Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner, and Karlie Kloss; and the female stars of the show Riverdale--Camila Mendes, Madelaine Petsch, and Lili Reinhart.
Some of them have previously spoken out in support of reproductive rights--from Halsey's viral speech at the 2018 Women's March in New York City to Eilish blasting Texas' six-week abortion ban that turns anti-choice vigilantes into bounty hunters at the Austin City Limits Festival last year.
After Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's draft opinion signaling the imminent end of Roe was revealed last week, singer Phoebe Bridgers tweeted: "I had an abortion in October of last year while I was on tour. I went to Planned Parenthood, where they gave me the abortion pill. It was easy. Everyone deserves that kind of access."
During her concert last week in Washington, D.C., Olivia Rodrigo said that "I couldn't pass up the opportunity to talk about how heartbroken I am over the Supreme Court's potential decision."
Decisions about women's bodies "should never be in the hands of politicians," the 19-year-old added. "I hope we can raise our voices to protect our right to have a safe abortion, which is a right that so many people before us have worked so hard to get."
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'Five-Alarm Fire': Anger, Resolve as Thousands Rally Nationwide for Reproductive Rights
"It took a mass movement to win Roe," said Seattle rally host and city lawmaker Kshama Sawant, "and it'll take a mass movement to defend it."
May 03, 2022
Thousands of reproductive rights defenders took to the streets of cities across the United States on Tuesday, one day after a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion indicating that Roe v. Wade will likely be overturned sent shockwaves across the nation.
"Beyond protests, we will need mass meetings to plan next steps for the movement including direct action and even strikes."
In New York City, where messages on demonstrators' placards ranged from "liberty presumes an autonomy of self" to "get your fucking hands off our bodies," state Attorney General Letitia James was among the thousands of protesters who rallied in Foley Square. James shared that she had an abortion while serving on the New York City Council.
"This is a call to action, this is a five-alarm fire, my friends," James shouted to the crowd, according to The New York Times. "This is a time to act, this is not the time to be silent because silence is the enemy right now."
Derek Holmes, a 26-year-old man, told the Times that he was attending the rally because he had "been in a situation where having an abortion saved me from becoming an ill-equipped father."
Hannah Jacobs, a lawyer from New Jersey, told Mother Jones that "a group of men that are 70, 80-years-old--who have lifetime appointments, that have not been voted into office--should not have a say over whether I choose to have a baby or not."
"They're not 'pro-life,' they're 'pro-birth,'" she said. "As soon as the baby comes out, they don't give a damn who that baby is, they don't give a damn about the mom, they don't give a damn about health care... they just want to exert control over our bodies."
In Washington, D.C., a large crowd gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court to stand up for the right to choose, with many chanting: "Abortion rights are under attack. What do we do? Stand up, fight back!"
"I'm here because of the decision that was leaked last night. We are imminently about to lose the right to safe and legal abortions in this country. And I am angered, outraged and disappointed," Krithika Harish of Washington, D.C. told Al Jazeera. "It's inconceivable to me that my future daughter might have less rights than 50 years ago."
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Amy Marden, a Virginia attorney, told the outlet that after reading the Politico article revealing the high court's draft opinion, "I called my mom and we cried. My mom was out here fighting for abortion rights in the '70s."
"Honestly, if we don't have precedent in our country, we don't have rights," she added. "None of our rights are safe."
Supreme Court protester Shelby Davis-Cooper, a fourth-year medical student at Georgetown University pursuing an OB/GYN residency, told The Washington Post that "ultimately this a matter of human rights, and human rights should not be debated on a state-by-state basis."
In Chicago, student protesters chanted, "No more shame, no more silence, forced motherhood is fascist violence."
San Francisco marchers vowed to "rise up, rise up for abortion rights!"
In Phoenix, the rallying cry at the Arizona State Capitol was "Ho ho, hey hey, Roe v. Wade has got to stay."
Socialist Alternative Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant, who hosted a rally in Westlake Park, said before the event that "it took a mass movement to win Roe, and it'll take a mass movement to defend it."
"We need emergency coordinated protests this week in every major city and town to kick off a sustained nationwide movement," she added. "Beyond protests, we will need mass meetings to plan next steps for the movement including direct action and even strikes."
Discussing the high court's draft opinion, Aileen Day, communications director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio, told WSYX at a Columbus demonstration that "it is not surprising, even though it is devastating that it will be overturned."
"It took us generations of work to get where we are now," she added, "and it will take generations of work to get the right to choose back. Our rights are our rights. They can make abortion illegal but we will still be able to access abortion."
In Syracuse, New York, Nada Odeh, founder of the local chapter of the Women's March, called the prospect of Roe's reversal "really kind of overwhelming and kind of disappointing, honestly."
"I don't want to feel the same here," the Syrian refugee told CNY Central. "I want freedom. I want to feel that this is the country I love. I feel like as a woman I don't want anyone to control my body. No one chooses abortion if they don't have to."
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'Outrageous and Shameful': Dems May Cut Paid Leave Due to Manchin's Opposition
Decrying the plan, advocacy groups vowed that "the American people are not going to allow that essential human need to be ignored and negotiated away behind closed doors."
Oct 27, 2021
Progressive U.S. lawmakers and advocates for working families were outraged Wednesday by reporting that congressional leaders are planning to fully cut paid leave from Democrats' Build Back Better package due to opposition from Sen. Joe Manchin.
"Congress cannot accept a final Build Back Better deal without paid leave."
Sources on Capitol Hill told reporters at several news outlets--including CNN, Politico, The Hill, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal--that Democrats are, as the Times put it, "likely to abandon their plans to create a new federal paid family and medical leave program" because of Manchin (D-W.Va.).
The newspaper noted that Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who "personally reached out" to the right-wing West Virginian in an attempt to sell him on a compromise, promised to keep pushing for it.
"Until the bill is printed, I will continue working to include paid leave in the Build Back Better plan," Gillibrand said in a statement Wednesday afternoon--a vow echoed by Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) on Twitter.
Politico's Eleanor Mueller also reported that Democrats plan to slash the program, initially proposed as 12 weeks but recently reduced to just four weeks, "from their mammoth social spending package Wednesday after attempts to drastically pare it down were deemed insufficient."
"Already, advocates are fuming over what they see as an unwillingness by the White House to fight hard enough for a policy it won [the 2020] election on," Mueller wrote in a series of tweets, "particularly in the face of a public health crisis and an economic crisis that disproportionately impacted women and low-wage workers."
"Groups launched an eleventh-hour push to keep paid leave in the package, sending mass emails and flooding social media," she added. "The hashtag #SavePaidLeave appeared in posts by Paid Leave for All, National Women's Law Center, and other groups along with advocates like Melinda Gates."
The advocacy group NARAL Pro-Choice America tweeted: "How can we rebuild without paid leave to keep families working and healthy? We need paid leave."
"It's outrageous and shameful that in the midst of a global pandemic that's forced more than two million women out of the workforce, Congress and the White House have put forward a preliminary legislative deal without paid family and medical leave," Molly Day, executive director of Paid Leave for the U.S. (PL+US), said in a statement Wednesday evening.
Day declared that "paid leave is an essential tool for building back better--for returning millions of women to the workforce after a historic she-cession, addressing the widening racial wealth gap and other socio-economic income disparities, and creating the business resiliency our national economy needs in 2021."
"Paid leave is about ensuring that no working person has to choose between their family and their paycheck, and the American people are not going to allow that essential human need to be ignored and negotiated away behind closed doors," she said. "Congress cannot accept a final Build Back Better deal without paid leave."
Women's March pointed to a Times report from Monday highlighting that the United States is one of just six nations with no national paid leave and it would still be an outlier with the proposed four-week plan, given what other countries offer.
Some critics of the cut took aim at Manchin, who suggested to CNN Wednesday evening that paid family and medical leave doesn't belong in the package, saying Democrats should be "examining all this stuff," but the reconciliation bill "is not the place to do it."
According to the Times, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said that "we are not going to let one man tell millions of women in this country that they can't have paid leave."
Because Democrats are trying to use the filibuster-proof budget reconciliation process, they need support from the party's entire Senate caucus--including Manchin and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona--to pass the package, which has been cut down to roughly $2 trillion in spending over a decade.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday afternoon that President Joe Biden wants a deal on the package--which is holding up a bipartisan infrastructure bill and is supposed to deliver on several of his campaign promises--"before he leaves for Europe" on Thursday.
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Women Rally for Abortion Justice Amid 'Unprecedented Attack' on Reproductive Rights
"The American people support the right to a safe, legal abortion. We're not going back—not now, not ever."
Oct 02, 2021
Amid an escalating Republican assault on reproductive rights and a looming U.S. Supreme Court reckoning, women and allies across the United States and around the world took to the streets Saturday to #RallyForAbortionJustice and defend Roe v. Wade.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched in Washington, D.C, New York City, Los Angeles, and more than 600 other cities and towns, according to Women's March, the event organizer.
"No matter where you live, no matter where you are, this moment is dark--it is dark--but that's why we're here," Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood, told participants at the Washington, D.C. protest. "It is our job to imagine the light, even when we can't see it. It is our job to turn pain into purpose. It is our job to turn pain into power."
At the Houston rally--where signs read "Abort Abbott" in protest of S.B. 8, Texas' draconian abortion law signed earlier this year by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott--more than 10,000 people turned out, with many chanting, "Our bodies, our choice."
In Washington, D.C., Women's March executive director Rachel O'Leary Carmona described the wave of GOP anti-choice laws in at least 16 states as an "unprecedented attack" on reproductive rights.
"For a long time, groups of us were ringing the alarm bell around abortion access and many of us were told we were hysterical and Roe v. Wade will never be overturned," Carmona told USA Today. "But now it's clear that our fears were both rational and proportional."
Women's March says that by refusing to block the Texas law--which bans abortions after six weeks without exceptions for rape or incest, and offers $10,000 bounties for vigilantes who successfully sue anyone who "aids or abets" the medical procedure--the Supreme Court "effectively took the next step towards overturning Roe v. Wade."
In May, the Supreme Court announced it will hear a challenge to Mississippi's near-total abortion ban, a case that author Lauren Rankin warned "may very well be the death knell for Roe v. Wade" given the high court's conservative supermajority.
Nearly all House Democrats came together last week to pass the Women's Health Protection Act (WHPA) in response to the Texas law and amid mounting fears that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe. According to the advocacy group Equal Access to Abortion, Everywhere, the WHPA would establish "a statutory right for health care providers to provide, and their patients to receive, abortion care free from medically unnecessary restrictions, limitations, and bans that delay, and at times, completely obstruct, access to abortion."
However, the bill faces an uphill battle in an evenly split Senate in which anti-choice Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) oppose the measure.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted Saturday that Americans "support the right to a safe, legal abortion."
Speakers at Saturday's rallies emphasized the harm caused by anti-choice laws. Planned Parenthood of Illinois senior director of public policy Brigid Leahy told the Associated Press at the Springfield march that women started traveling to Illinois two days after the Texas law took effect.
"They are trying to figure out paying for airfare or gas or a train ticket, they may need hotel and meals," she said. "They have to figure out time off of work, and they have to figure out childcare. This can be a real struggle."
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As Progressives Eye Potential 'Jolt of Momentum,' Nina Turner Nabs Women's March Endorsement
"This isn't about Nina versus any opponent; this is about the people versus big money."
Jul 27, 2021
Progressive firebrand Nina Turner was endorsed on Tuesday by the Women's March, a development that came a week out from the special Democratic primary in Ohio's 11th Congressional District.
The endorsement was first reported by The Hill, which said the announcement was released by the group's super PAC, Women's March Win.
According to The Hill, the announcement marks "the group's first-ever electoral endorsement." It will likely not be the last, however. Women's March executive director Rachel O'Leary Carmona--who called Turner "phenomenal"--told the outlet her group is eyeing "contentious races like this as progressives and Democrats really are grappling with what it looks like to build out the future that works for all Americans."
Turner, a former member of the Cleveland City Council, Ohio state senator, and a national co-chair for the 2020 presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), has already been endorsed by a number progressive groups in her bid for the seat left open by former Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, who now leads the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Groups including Justice Democrats, MoveOn, and the Sunrise Movement point to Turner's platform, which includes a Green New Deal and Medicare for All, as the kind of transformative change the nation needs.
Progressive and left-leaning members of Congress have also thrown their support behind Turner.
That group includes Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). Speaking at a Cleveland rally on Saturday to campaign for Turner, Ocasio-Cortez framed the Ohio race in broad terms. "This isn't about Nina versus any opponent; this is about the people versus big money," she said.
Sanders is set to headline a get-out-the-vote rally for Turner on July 31.
The Democratic establishment, meanwhile, has been throwing support for Turner's main opponent, Shontel Brown, who's the leader of the Cuyahoga County Democratic Party.
Should Turner win the race, it "would infuse progressives with a jolt of momentum, inspiring candidates and donors ahead of a cycle of immense opportunity," Politico reported Tuesday.
"We would send a strong message," Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a member and former co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who's endorsed Turner, Politico. "When people see that's a path, we can have more candidates, period."
In a Monday tweet, Pocan suggested individual contributions to Turner's campaign would help "beat back at ugly dark money" that's been dumped into the race to defeat her.
"Don't let the special interests win," Pocan wrote. "She's a good progressive."
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