Protesters rally across LI and US against anti-abortion laws

Carrying signs with slogans like “We will not go back,” protesters across Long Island and across the country on Saturday called for the preservation of abortion rights two days before the United States Supreme Court starts a new term that includes a case to overturn the constitutional right to abortion.

“Women fought for rights, and now those rights are taken away from them,” Mayra Valladares, 42, of North Bellmore, one of some 300 people, said at a rally outside the courthouse in North Bellmore. Nassau County to Mineola.

The demonstration, she said, is to show “we are not backing down. We have to move forward.”

Hundreds of people also gathered at Great Neck, Huntington Station, Lindenhurst, Port Jefferson Station and Smithtown.

In Washington, DC, one of hundreds of other marches and protests planned across the country, thousands of people gathered on the steps of the Supreme Court building.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments Dec. 1 in a case involving a Mississippi law that prohibits abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Mississippi Attorney General asks court to use case to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that established a constitutional right to abortion.

On September 1, the court refused to block the application of a Texas law that prohibits abortion once heart activity is detected – usually around six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. . The effect is a ban on most abortions in the state. The US Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against Texas, and federal attorneys on Friday urged a federal judge to strike down the law.

At a rally in upstate Seneca Falls, Governor Kathy Hochul told those in Texas and other states who oppose the right to abortion to “get your fucking hands out of our hands.” corps ”and invited women from“ states where their rights are under attack ”to come to New York.

“We’ll take care of you, make sure you get the health care you deserve,” she said.

In Mineola, demonstrators, who then marched a few blocks to the executive and legislative building Theodore Roosevelt and vice versa, chanted “neither the church nor the state, women must decide their fate” and “Abortion is a human right”.

They asked for approval of a bill that the US House narrowly passed on September 24 that would codify Roe v. Wade in law – a measure that faces an uphill battle in the Senate.

Jill Williams, 56, of Hempstead, said if Roe v. Wade was canceled, poor women would be particularly affected. Even with legal abortion, many low-income women do not have the money for an abortion or the funds or the free time to sometimes travel long distances to the place of the procedure, she said. . While abortion is made illegal in some states, “people who have access and resources can still get what they want. What about people without resources? “

New York legalized abortion three years before Roe v. Wade, in 1970, and in 2019, the state legislature reinforced this law. But a number of states have laws banning abortion that would go into effect if Roe v. Wade is canceled.

Joy Smiley, 72, of Levittown, who carried a “My Body My Choice” sign, noted that before Roe v. Wade, women were dying or injured while trying to terminate a pregnancy on their own or by obtaining an illegal abortion.

If the decision is overturned, women unable to go to places where abortion is legal will have to resort to “back alleys or find some other way to terminate their pregnancy. It could be very dangerous for them,” he said. she declared.

Opponents of women’s access to abortion condemned the rallies.

“What about equal rights for unborn women? Tweeted Jeanne Mancini, president of an anti-abortion group called March for Life.

Many who oppose the right to abortion cite their religious beliefs as the reason.

But Reverend Mark Lukens, pastor of Bethany Congregational Church in East Rockaway, said “being truly pro-life is making sure every child born is a wanted child and has the basic resources to have it. what Jesus called abundant life. “

Lukens added, “What is considered pro-life in this country is really controlling the lives and bodies of women. I think that’s against what Jesus taught.”

Smiley said the decision to have a child is a personal one, “between a woman and her doctor, and I don’t think anyone outside has the right to interfere with it.”

With PA

David Olson covers health care. He has been with Newsday since 2015 and has previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.