Thousands protest leaked SCOTUS ruling on Roe v. Wade in NYC’s Foley Square
Thousands of demonstrators packed Foley Square on Tuesday to protest the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the abortion rights case Roe v. Wade, a day after a draft opinion was leaked.
New York State Attorney General Tish James railed against the leaked decision during a speech in the downtown Manhattan park while the crowd chanted slogans and held signs that read “Abort the patriarchy.”
“This is a five-alarm fire, my friends,” James said.
“It’s a fight that’s going to take all of us to win. And I’m here to say we will not go backwards. We will not go back to the days when we used wire hangers!”
The state will establish a fund for women who want to come to New York for a procedure as other states impose potential bans, she said.
The riled-up crowd of pro-choice advocates joined in chants like “we won’t go back” and “my body, my choice,” and waved signs that included images of bloody wire hangers and sayings like “Abort the patriarchy,” “‘God Squad’ Bigots Go to Hell,” “Against Abortion? Have a Vasectomy.”
Members of the group Abortion Access Front raised blown-up cardboard cutouts of the heads of the six conservative justices on the highest court in the land – then called for demonstrators to raise their middle fingers to the images.
“I tell jokes and this court is a joke,” comedian Amy Schumer said during a speech.
One protester had set up a Primal Scream Station where people could scream at cutouts of the justices in favor of overturning the Roe v. Wade decision.
“Step right up, come scream at the justices!” shouted Sarah Frazier, of the group Abortion Access Front, a national organization that supports clinics and abortion access.
“We have a lot of built up rage and we also feel like humor is one way to fight through the noise and get your position heard,” she told The Post.
“We felt like today would be a good day and scream at these five amazing pillars of justice,” she quipped. “It’s been a light cardio workout, just letting it out, you know.”
Inwood resident Liana Stampur called the news “really f—king depressing.”
“These are rights that my mom tried to secure for me and my own daughter,” said Stampur, 36.
“I’m really upset that this is where we’re at and our choices are being stripped from us and it’s happening in 2022… I just seated crying on the train when I was checking out the news this morning.”
Carrol Gardens resident Lauren Harrison, 45, said she heard the news on an airplane coming back from Los Angeles and said there was a ripple effect among female passengers.
“The women all started looking at one another and it was like ‘how can this all be happening?’ ” said Harrison, a school librarian who was wearing a shirt that said “my body my choice since 1973.”
Molly Gaebe, one of the organizers, called the rally a day to get out “rage and sadness” before regrouping to start the fight again.
“This isn’t over. It’s going to be a long road,” Gaebe said. “We’re just creating a space here for people to let their emotions out so they can, honestly, get through the stages of grief so we can get to acceptance and then action.”
