On October 8th, celebrating the national day of action, Chicago Abortion Fund organized a protest in Federal Plaza to demand action and support. Unions, reproductive health organizations, abortion funds, and advocacy groups including Chicago Abortion Fund, Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), Mujeres Latinas en Acción, Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) participated in the protest. Since the overturn of the Roe v. Wade decision, mass protest has been on the rise nationally to fight against the spread of misinformation about abortion, clinics, and the financial and social restrictions against the procedure.
Transcript
00:03 My body my choice, my body my choice, my body my choice.
00:15 Like they’ve always used music. And that’s to keep us hopeful. because whatever is going on right now, it’s not what’s going to say going on right now. So let’s give it up for Marvin Gaye for giving us this tune here.
00:32 [Dr Allison Cowett speaks]: Conditions for pregnant people have become even more dangerous. I met a college student who came to our clinic from Alabama She had mistakenly visited a fake clinic, a crisis pregnancy center, where she had been lied to about the dangers of abortion. She told me she was worried that we would sedate her for the abortion and tie her tubes and make her infertile. Obviously, that was untrue and she was very, very worried. She’s 800 miles from home and she was very frightened.
01:04 [Shruti Bhuma and Swathi Bhuma speak]: When it comes to reproductive health. There’s no such thing as an absolute right or an absolute wrong. There’s just what’s right for you, given your circumstances. And that’s a decision that can only be made by you person and the support network they choose to involve. So here’s the big question. How do I get from here to where we want to go? Well, we need two things: truth and power. Truth comes in the form of lived experiences. It comes in the form of ethical and inclusive research. And then there’s power. Put simply, power is that boots on the ground activism.
01:44 [Jeanine Valri Logan speaks]: I literally just got a text in the Lyft from a politician who wants to ban abortions asking that I support him. I said no. This decision would ensure even more devastation for Black people people, for folks seeking gender affirming care and fertility assistance.
02:04 [Linda Loew speaks]: We will protest the right wing march for lies and other anti-abortion groups when they come to town. We will expose fake clinics who confuse and scare people with their misinformation and lies. We must return to the streets again and again. We must educate in communities, workplaces, schools and houses of worship. Please sign up! Take home a flyer! Get involved! We are in this fight for abortion rights and full reproductive justice until we win.
