Mark Helenowski/Mother Jones
A noisy crowd of many hundreds converged on downtown Manhattan’s Foley Square Tuesday evening, one day after a Politico bombshell revealed the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“Abortion is a human right, not just for the rich and white!” they chanted, banging drums and brandishing brightly colored signs, one that read, “My arms are tired from holding this sign since the 1960s.”
The rally, outside the barricaded steps of the federal courthouse near City Hall, was just one of a number of snap demonstrations called from coast to coast, channeling an eruption of outrage after the draft decision became public. Hannah Jacobs, a 29-year-old lawyer from Jersey City, told our Senior Digital Producer Mark Helenowski that this was her first-ever protest: “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.”
Mark is on the ground talking to attendees. Here’s what he is seeing and hearing:
A few of todays signs at Foley Square in Manhattan pic.twitter.com/WnVUAqRRdY
— 🎥 Mark Helenowski (@markhelenowski) May 3, 2022
Maya (right) explains her sign to me: “Please respect everybody around you. Because you have to respect everyone or it’s not nice.” pic.twitter.com/FmPNyl1Nj4
— 🎥 Mark Helenowski (@markhelenowski) May 3, 2022
Paola Pachon, a 29 year old product designer: “Unsafe things are going to happen if people don’t have access to safe abortions… You can’t force people to have babies that they don’t want. It’s not fair.” pic.twitter.com/Pa8Oj4jI60
— 🎥 Mark Helenowski (@markhelenowski) May 3, 2022
Deborah Wolfson’s sign is the shortest I’ve seen today.
“It says ‘no.’ Because I didn’t think I had the time or the space to swear as much as spoke to my soul—so I thought I’d just cut to the point.” pic.twitter.com/Mw6RzvkJOo
— 🎥 Mark Helenowski (@markhelenowski) May 3, 2022
“This decision getting leaked is a battle in the war against people of color, poor people, against reproductive freedom,” says Victoria Ruiz, 35, a lawyer.
“This is only going to put people in incredibly dangerous and unsafe situations where people die.” pic.twitter.com/MCtQdN1zJc
— 🎥 Mark Helenowski (@markhelenowski) May 4, 2022
