A WLI Board Member Reacts to the Roe v. Wade Decision

June 30, 2022 - Alejandra Loaiza Delgado

 

It was Friday, June 24, 2022. As usual, I woke up at 6 am. I live on the West Coast, so I usually check my phone to see what is happening in the world before I head to my workout session. But that day, when I woke up and opened the New York Times, it read "Roe v. Wade Overturned." I was perplexed; I could not believe it; I was in complete denial. I thought you must be delusional; try to go back to sleep. I went back to sleep and woke up 45 minutes later to realize that my nightmare was a reality. I was heartbroken; women had lost the fundamental right to make a decision about their own bodies.

I could not concentrate at work; I could feel my heart rising and wonder to myself, "how is this possible?" I felt powerless; the Supreme Court of the United States overturned the constitutional right to an abortion that was guaranteed nearly 50 years ago by the decision in Roe v. Wade.

As Justice Ginsburg said in her Supreme Court confirmation hearing, "This is central to a woman's life, to her dignity… When government controls that decision for her, she's being treated as less than a fully adult human." This is precisely what happened that Friday. We were treated as less than fully adult humans and stripped of our fundamental rights.

I could not sit still, I had to act. I decided to join the Women's March Foundation rally downtown at 5:00 pm. I prepared posters and recruited friends and family to join me.

On our way to the rally, tears came down my eyes because I lacked the words to express my rage. When we arrived at the rally, many groups wore different colors and had different banners. But, regardless of the group we were in, we all had the same goal. Protest because abortion is a human right!

We were joined by Gloria Allred, a former Roe attorney, who talked to us and gave us the strength we needed to march. In the 1960s, before Gloria became one of America's most influential women's rights attorneys, she was raped at gunpoint. She became pregnant and had a back-alley abortion. She was left bleeding in a tub, hemorrhaging in a pool of her own blood. Finally, when she was taken to the hospital, the nurse told her, "I hope this teaches you a lesson." "It did teach me a lesson," Gloria shouted to the protesters and emphasized, "and the lesson is that abortion should be safe, legal, and affordable."

She then asked the protesters to keep in mind that nobody ever gave women any rights, and they will not give them to us now. Allred emphasized that we must fight to win them!

Energized by Allred's powerful words, we marched the streets of downtown LA shouting, "We raise for abortion rights, and for abortion rights we rise." Non-stop we continue to shout, "this decision must not stand; legal abortion on demand!"

As Michelle Obama stated on Friday, "this horrifying decision will have devastating consequences and it must be a wake-up call, especially to the young people who will bear the burden." Michelle Obama also mentioned that we are inheriting a country that does not resemble our values, and we can't give up now. This is the time to get involved and fight back to win our fundamental rights! So, let's fight together to create an America that does reflect our values where abortions are safe, legal, and affordable!

 

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