Wave Wire Services
WEST HOLLYWOOD — Reproduction rights advocates will continue their protests against a possible U.S. Supreme Court ruling that would overturn federal abortion protections enshrined in the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision May 14.
At least two Los Angeles rallies will be held. The first will begin at 9 a.m. as part of a larger, previously planned women’s march at 350 W. First St., in downtown Los Angeles.
At noon a second protest will begin at nearby Grand Park, 200 N. Grand Ave.
Other “Bans Off Our Bodies” rallies will be held nationwide, according to organizers.
Pro-choice demonstrators gathered in West Hollywood and Culver City May 7 and at a variety of sites in other parts of California and nationwide, including outside the Washington D.C. area homes of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh and Chief Justice John Roberts.
In West Hollywood, a crowd of mostly female demonstrators carried signs with such slogans as “We Won’t Go Back,” “My Body My Choice,” “Abortion on Demand Without Apology” and “If It Isn’t Your Body It’s Not Your Decision.”
The group Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights organized the protest, which started around noon at San Vicente and Santa Monica boulevards, went to La Cienega Boulevard, Melrose Avenue, Robertson Boulevard and back to San Vicente, said Sgt. E. Jalvez of the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station.
Deputies provided traffic control to keep protesters safe, he said.
Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights plans a national week of action building to the nationwide protest on May 14. “We refuse to let the U.S. Supreme Court take away abortion rights,” the group promised on its Twitter page.
Dozens of protesters also gathered at Veterans Memorial Park in Culver City, led by a coalition of community groups and elected officials.
“While there are many local and nation rallies planned for May 14, there isn’t a moment to wait to get involved in defending an American woman’s right to her own autonomy,” Culver City Councilwoman Yasmine-Imani McMorrin said. “In 2022, we are still fighting for so many basic human rights. I believe that abortion is health care and I’m determined to do all I can on the local level to support women/people who can become pregnant and their access to reproductive care.”
