By: Madi Houser and Halee Fyke
Photo by: Logan Hodson
On October 2nd, 2021, 120,000 people in 650 locations in all 50 states rallied to fight for abortion justice. Right here in Champaign-Urbana, hundreds of women’s rights advocates gathered at the Alma Mater statue, signs in hand, ready to make their voices heard.
The first Women’s March was on January 21st, 2017, following the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump. Millions of angry women and advocates marched throughout the country worried about what was to come after the vocabulary of Trump’s campaign was loaded with misogyny and attacked many other minority groups such as the LGTBQIA+ community, black, indigenous and people of color, and immigrants. The message was crystal clear: Women will never stop fighting for their rights and social justice.
The Women’s March of 2021 focused on abortion justice following Texas’s new ban that prohibits abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. This time limit can come before some people even know they are pregnant and allows private citizens to sue abortion providers and anyone else who helps a person get an abortion.
“The Texas law enacted last month has set a dangerous legal precedent that could create a path for other states to override people’s constitutional rights. When the Supreme Court chose not to strike down the clearly unconstitutional ban, it started a nationwide campaign to block access to abortion state-by-state,” said Urbana City Council Member Chaundra Bishop, in her speech to kick-off Champaign-Urbana’s march. She added, “2021 is the worst legislative year ever for abortion rights in our country’s history, with nearly 600 restrictions in 47 states introduced just this year alone.”
In 2019, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker signed the Reproductive Health Act, ensuring that people in Illinois continue to have a right to choose despite decisions made in the Supreme Court. Nikki Budzinski, the Democratic Congressional Candidate for IL-13 stated, “In Illinois we are very lucky that we will become a haven state, meaning that people all across the country are going to be coming to Illinois to make sure that they get access to reproductive health care.” People all over the nation want their rights protected and access to the health care they deserve.
This year’s Women’s March happened just two days before the reconvening of the Supreme Court on Monday, October 4th. Carol Ammons, Illinois State Representative, said, “We [Illinois] are the leaders of the nation. It requires us to get on the ground. Defending reproductive rights will not be an easy fight. We saw what Trump did; he laced the Supreme Court with right-wing judges. He put them at the appellate level. He put them in local jurisdictions, just like ours. But we will fight back. That’s why we are here this morning, to fight back.” She added, “And we have to continue to fight for LGBTQ rights and racial equality.”
While abortion has never been fully accessible, our reproductive rights are in peril; we are at risk of losing them. The Women’s March website states, “We are witnessing the most dire threat to abortion access in our lifetime. We need to send an unmistakable message about our fierce opposition to restricting abortion access and overturning Roe v. Wade before it’s too late.”
To support the fight for abortion justice and reproductive rights, visit this website to find ways you can act today.
“The fight does not end here. We have to keep fighting, relentlessly, for our basic human rights. We will never stop fighting for a better tomorrow,” Reede Neutze, University of Illinois Law student and member of the UIUC Women’s Law Society told the crowd at Champaign-Urbana’s “Rally for Abortion Justice.”
