Remembering Rosie Jiménez-Victim of the Hyde Amendment

Photos by Rachel Podlishevsky, ProBonoPhoto.org. Please credit the photographer.

On October 1, rally attendees said their call for the repeal of the Hyde Amendment and full access to abortion is just the beginning. Speakers in the BART Plaza at 24th and Mission cried out for affordable childcare, for the reuniting of immigrant families separated by draconian laws, and for an end to racism in reproductive health care,

Many people do not know that Indian children have been torn from their families to be placed in white households where they supposedly receive "better" care. One of the demands of the October 1 rally was the upholding of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), a federal law that gives tribal governments jurisdiction over children who reside on a reservation. A challenge to the Act will be heard by the US Supreme Court this year, and with Amy Coney "need adoptable kids in the pipeline" Barrett on the court, there is fear that the ICWA will be overturned.

Speakers talked about homophobia and transphobia. They called for the end of hate and bigotry everywhere.

Famed poet Nellie Wong, now an octogenarian, read a poem about the intersection of race and reproductive justice. As a poignant part of the event, organizers broadcast Vivir Quintana's song about femicide Canción Sin Miedo through the plaza and beyond into the busy intersection.