University of Washington students rally for reproductive rights
Seattle, WA – Sixty people gathered on the University of Washington campus, October 16, to rally for reproductive rights. Called by Progressive Students Union (PSU), this protest was in response to the national call to action by Students for a Democratic Society.
“While it’s important to get educated on these issues, it is also important to take action!” declared Anjali Sinha of Progressive Student Union. Local labor organizers, activists and students at the University of Washington echoed this call and gave ways to get involved.
“Police budgets increasing while our rights are rolled back is a disturbing trend, even here in Washington where reproductive rights seem safer,” said Vicki Amole of the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
“Reproductive rights are worker’s rights. Unions build power so that workers can have autonomy over their lives – from improving wages and closing the gender wage gap to having access to healthcare,” Unite Here Local 8 organizer Sydney Lankford asserted.
Throughout the rally, the crowd chanted, “When abortion rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back!” and “Not one step back!”
Toward the end, Clio Jensen of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization explained, “Queer liberation, trans liberation and women’s liberation necessitate an end to capitalism – only a revolution that puts working people in power can do that.”
Other speakers and attendees included representatives of UW Medical Students for Choice; UAW Local 4121, representing graduate employees; the Student Disability Commission; Puget Sound Tenants Union; UNITE HERE Local 8; Radical Women, and the Seattle Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.