Women march on Anniversary of Historic Roe v. Wade Ruling

The Los Altos/Mountain View Chapter of the AAUW and the Silver Ribbon Campaign worked to make this rally and march happen. See the Our Silver Ribbon website to get involved.

Anne Slater, National Organizer of the organization Radical Women, summed up the status of the continuing battle to preserve abortion rights in a recent communiqué .

"More abortion restrictions were enacted 2011-2013 than in the entire previous decade. Twenty-three states essentially banned abortion from plans offered through the new health insurance marketplaces, according to the pro-choice Guttmacher Institute. ... Lack of reproductive care has a devastating impact on the poor, who don’t have resources to buy “extra” health services or navigate all the roadblocks to obtaining an abortion."

Ms. Slater continues: "The rightwing continues to push an agenda that defines women’s value primarily as baby-makers, while slashing desperately needed social services including food stamps, childcare and housing. Frankly, it is both Republican and Democratic Party politicians who pass these abhorrent funding measures."

And in good news about action to protect our reproductive rights, she writes, "Nevertheless, resistance continues. Feminists took action, like the women and men in Albuquerque who defeated an anti-abortion initiative and those in Texas who took over their state capitol to protest anti-abortion legislation. In another case, ... the ACLU is tackling the issue of Catholic facilities that refuse to provide women legal, safe and simple medical procedures. Winning that lawsuit, and the rainbow of needs required for full reproductive justice, will take bold, visible, multi-racial, radical organizing in legislatures, courtrooms, and the streets. Hope we’ll see you in this struggle!"