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Councilmember Sawant responds to U.S. Supreme Court’s leaked draft with pro-abortion rights rally

May 3, 2022, 11:42 AM

sawant...

Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant speaks at rally at Westlake Center in 2017 to stand up for reproductive rights and economic equality for women. (Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)

(Photo by Karen Ducey/Getty Images)

Councilmember Kshama Sawant, representing District 3 of central Seattle, will host a rally to defend Roe v. Wade at 6 p.m. in Westlake Park.

This comes after a draft opinion, obtained by Politico, showed the Supreme Court may be poised to completely overturn Roe v. Wade.

Despite WA codifying abortion access, federal prohibition ‘threat’ emerges, Gov. Inslee says

“It took a mass movement to win Roe, and it’ll take a mass movement to defend it,” said Councilmember Sawant. “We need emergency coordinated protests this week in every major city and town to kick off a sustained nationwide movement. Beyond protests, we will need mass meetings to plan next steps for the movement including direct action and even strikes.”

Elected leaders, community advocates, and reproductive care providers are rallying today to assert and affirm that Washington state remains a pro-abortion rights state.

Ross: The Roe v. Wade draft opinion and revisiting the Right to Life’s pledge to end childhood poverty

Women’s rights organizations, labor unions, and socialists need to urgently call for mass protests against this shameful attack on abortion,” Sawant tweeted last night in response to the draft leak. “The only way to defeat the right is to build a mass, united working-class fightback!”

Sawant has served on the Seattle City Council since 2014 and is a member of Socialist Alternative, the first and only member of the party to be elected to public office.

King County Executive Dow Constantine echoed a similar sentiment.

“I am disgusted, yet unsurprised, by the deeply troubling revelation of SCOTUS’s strategy to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Constantine said in a release. “Women and families will suffer because of this hateful, misogynist agenda to deprive women of their bodily autonomy. I believe in and am committed to the right of every woman to make the choice that is best for herself and her family, and I will never stop fighting to ensure that abortion and family planning care are available, without barriers and unnecessary restrictions, in King County and Washington State.”

Constantine will be speaking at Kerry Park Tuesday afternoon at another pro-abortion rights rally.

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Councilmember Sawant responds to U.S. Supreme Court’s leaked draft with pro-abortion rights rally