RE:Pro-Reproductive
Rights Actions to Oppose “Walk for Life”
Community Activists Unite
to Counter Anti-Choice Marchers on
Anniversary of Roe v.
Wade
What: Rally, counter-demonstration, street theater, music
When:Saturday, January 23, 2010 at 10 a.m.
Where: San Francisco; Justin Herman Plaza’s Music Concourse
Photo
Opportunities: Anti-abortion Health
Care Bill Die-Ins along the march route, queer kiss-ins, reproductive justice hip
hop performances, music by the Raging Grannies, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence,
the marching band Brass Liberation Orchestra, pro-choice banners, community leaders and clergymembers
speaking at the rally, and more.
San Francisco, CA: National and Bay Area feminist and community
activists are convening a broad-based “Stop the War on Women – Day of Action
for Reproductive Justice” peaceful rally and counter-protest in response to the
anti-choice “Walk for Life—West Coast” march in San Francisco on January 23,
2010. The rally begins at 10:00 a.m. at The Music Concourse near Justin
Herman Plaza (where Market Street meets Stuart Street), followed at 11:30 a.m.
by acounter-demonstration to the
“Walk for Life” route along the Embarcadero waterfront.
Commemorating the 37th
anniversary of the Roe v. Wade
decision legalizing abortion in the United States, the event is a spirited
reminder of the importance of legal accessible abortion.
“The simple truth
is that when abortion is illegal women die,” said Linci Comy of Women’s Choice
Clinic, “The World Health Organization (WHO) says 5 million women around the
world are hospitalized each year from complications due to unsafe illegal
abortion and 70,000 of these women die. Abortion was legalized in 1973 because
it saves women’s lives and benefits families – WHO research shows 220,000
children lose their mothers from abortion related deaths every year. What
a travesty for these abortion opponents to call themselves feminists.”
Pro-choice advocates -- joined
by representatives from the immigrant, labor, lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender,
disability, people of color and youth communities -- will then line the march
route of “Walk for Life” to denounce escalating assaults on reproductive
freedom, civil liberties, and women’s health by religious fundamentalists and
governmental policies, including but not limited to the regressive,
anti-abortion Stupak-Pitts and Nelson-Hatch amendments added the healthcare
bills passed in the House of Representatives and the one currently in
conference between the Senate and the House.
Initiated by the Bay Area Coalition for Our
Reproductive Rights (BACORR), endorsers of the January 23rd actions include: West
Coast Feminist Health Project/Women' s Choice Clinic; California Coalition for
Women Prisoners; San Francisco Labor Council; Nursing Students for Choice –
UCSF; Haiti Action Committee; SF Pride at Work/HAVOC; American Federation of
Teachers, AFT Local 2121; University Professional and Technical Employees,
UPTE-CWA 9119 Local 1; Single Payer Now; World Can't Wait; Radical Women; Feminist
Walkers; Women's International League for Peace and Freedom ;San Francisco Atheists;
Tom Ammiano, State Assemblyman, 13th Assembly District, San Francisco; Mark
Leno, State Senator, San Francisco; Freedom Socialist Party; Act Now to Stop
War and End Racism (ANSWER) San Francisco; San Francisco LaborFest Writing
Group; Latin American Alliance for Immigrant Rights (ALIADI); Berkeley NOW;
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence; Jane Kim, Vice President, San Francisco School
Board; Sandra Fewer, Member, San Francisco School Board; Aaron Peskin, Chair,
San Francisco Democratic Party; Norman Yee, Member, San Francisco School Board;
Rachel Norton, Member, San Francisco School Board; Jeff Adachi, San Francisco
Public Defender; David Chiu, President, San Francisco Board of Supervisors;
Chris Daly, Supervisor, San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and more.
# # #
Interested reporters and
editors, please contact Eric Schiller at (650) 867-0386 (cell); or by email at chessworks@sbcglobal.netto
arrange pre-event interviews, or visit www.bacorr.org for more information.
