St. Paul, MN - As Donald Trump was inaugurated the 47th president of the United States on Monday, January 20, people gathered in Saint Paul to make a promise that from day one they would resist Trump’s agenda. 

The day began at the Saint Paul Police Department’s Western District precinct. With temperatures dipping to negative five degrees, a single hearse led a caravan of over 100 cars in remembrance of Marcus Golden. At the young age of 24, Mr. Golden was murdered by Saint Paul Police on January 14, 2015. He is the nephew of Black Lives Matter Twin Cities organizer Monique Cullars-Doty. 

The caravan participants decorated their cars with Palestinian flags and signs in support of the defense of Black lives, immigrant rights, and reproductive rights. The caravan proceeded from The Saint Paul Police Department’s Western District precinct along University Avenue. Two young men exited their parked cars in subzero weather to wave a Palestinian flag in support as the caravan passed. The caravan participants honked as they continued east toward downtown.

Cullars-Doty spoke about the significance of the single hearse leading the caravan today. “The hearse is from the same undertaker who took my nephew Marcus Golden’s body from Ramsey County Coroner’s office, but it also represents all the revolutionaries this country has killed and silenced. It is also symbolic that we all follow the hearse because we are still fighting. So as this Trump administration rolls in, we cannot let our dreams die. It means we have to keep fighting.” 

A coalition of organizations led by Black Lives Matter Twin Cities (BLM-TC Metro), the Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), and Twin Cities Coalition for Justice (TCC4J) organized the car caravan and indoor rally.

In the shadow of the Minnesota State Capitol, the caravan arrived at Saint Paul College where 500 attendees filled the cafeteria to chants of “Black Lives, they matter here! and “Immigrants are welcome here!” 

Despite the somber occasion of Trump’s second inauguration, the room buzzed with enthusiasm as the emcees led the crowd in chants. Speaking for MIRAC was Manuel Pascual - a first generation Filipino immigrant who witnessed the violence of ICE raids against his community first hand. 

Pascual stated, “Immigrants and the working class are the backbone of this country. It is extremely important we don’t panic or fall into despair in this time of uncertainty. Instead, we organize. We take to the streets. We continue speaking up, showing up, and fighting for one another.” 

Charlie Berg, a member of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, affirmed the task ahead of everyone in the room: “It is up to all of us to unite the many in order to defeat the few. We need to make this country ungovernable! Our job is to take the fight to higher stages than ever before.”

Toshira Garraway, the founder of Families Supporting Families Against Police Violence, whose fiancé was murdered by the Saint Paul Police in 2009, inspired the crowd saying, “When we see someone being hurt or harmed or mistreated for any reason at all it’s going to take every nationality of people from every walk of life to stand up against the evil and the corruption in this world and we are going to win!”

Sarah Murphy from the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee who spoke about the fight for abortion access under Trump and the fight against the predatory crisis pregnancy centers that are run by the Christian right and embed themselves in predominantly Black and brown working-class communities and college towns to dissuade people from getting abortions.

The crowd also heard speeches from the Climate Justice Committee, the TCC4J, the Minnesota Immigrant Movement, among many others. Other groups were present to table and talk to community members and other organizers throughout the day to share information and get more community members involved in joining the fight against Trump. 

Closing out the program was Anti-War Committee and Free Palestine Coalition member Sabry Wazwaz, who connected the fights for Black and Palestinian liberation, stating, “This connection is not something new. It has always been there. They don’t want us to remind each other that our struggle is one struggle! If you go to Palestine, you will see murals all along the apartheid walls of Martin Luther King, of Malcom X, of George Floyd - because our struggle is one struggle!”

After the program, participants returned to their cars to caravan to the Minnesota State Capitol building where they ended the day of protest honking outside of the Minnesota State Capitol to send the message that Minnesotans will be in the streets to fight Trump’s agenda starting on day one, even in extreme subzero weather.

#StPaulMN #MLKDay #MLK #Trump #Inauguration #Minnesota #AntiWarCommittee #FreePalestineCoalition #FreePalestine #Abortion #AbortionAccess #ReproductiveFreedom #ReproRights #BLM #BlackLivesMatter

Milwaukee, WI – Nearly two dozen people gathered in front of the Farwell Women’s Care Center on Milwaukee’s East Side on the morning of Saturday, November 18, to raise awareness of local crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) throughout the state. Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee hosted the picket and chalk-writing action to raise awareness and highlight the risks these centers pose to reproductive healthcare, by the CPCs masquerading as legitimate health facilities.

“Crisis pregnancy centers are tools of reproductive injustice. They place themselves in marginalized communities to purposely target oppressed nationalities and they lie about being able to provide long-term support to the pregnant person after they give birth,” said Lauren Forbush, the chair of the Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee (RJAM). “The decision to have an abortion is not as simple as 'making a decision or having a choice.' Most times people have an abortion because their situation under capitalism doesn’t allow them to have a choice.”

RJAM held a traditional picket and chalk-writing, led chants, and had three speakers outside the center. Favorite chants from picketers included, “We are unstoppable, another world is possible!” and “Get up, get down, Milwaukee is a pro-choice town!” Chalk designs also included slogans such as “free lies inside” and “Anti-abortion clinic.”

Aside from Forbush representing RJAM, there were other speakers from the Medical College of Wisconsin’s Medical Students for Choice (MCW-MSC) and the Affiliated Medical Services Escorts. All three speakers outlined the various ways in which CPCs have directly impacted the community at large. A couple of speakers detailed their personal experiences either seeking care at a CPC or escorting at an abortion care facility across the road, while MCW-MSC highlighted the dangers and medical misinformation these centers have been known to give vulnerable patients. All speakers gave a call to action to demand the Wisconsin state assembly to vote “no'' on AB 344.

SB 345 and AB 344 would allocate $1 million of taxpayer money to ChooseLife Wisconsin, which would in turn disperse these funds to the over 80 crisis pregnancy centers in the state. This is in direct opposition to state statutes that prohibit the same funds be used by legitimate medical facilities that provide or counsel individuals on receiving abortion care. SB 345 has already passed through the state senate in October.

Crisis pregnancy centers are run by anti-abortion organizations that prioritize birth over the health and wellbeing of the pregnant person. These facilities will use deceit, lies and shame in an attempt to coerce individuals into not seeking abortion care. Free ultrasounds and pregnancy testing are performed by predominantly volunteer workers with no proper medical training and routinely provide inaccurate dating of the pregnancy. They also provide counseling that contains outright false claims that link abortion to increased rates of breast cancer and suicide in an attempt to scare people aware from seeking abortion care. To make matters worse, these facilities also refuse birth control to patients and use more lies and shame to promote abstinence-only sexual “education.”

Forbush indicated that future actions, such as a call-in campaign, are in the works to contact representatives to vote “no '' on these bills, as well as future pickets in front of other crisis pregnancy centers.

#MilwaukeeWI #ReproductiveFreedom #AbortionRights #CPCs #RJAM

St. Paul, MN – On Sunday, November 5, members of the Minnesota Abortion Action Committee held a rally, decorated cars with signs, flags, and written slogans before driving the streets of Saint Paul, and then rallied again in front of a so-called “vigil for the unborn” organized by Pro-Life Action Ministries, a Minnesota-based anti-choice religious group.

This action was organized in response to the closing vigil of a 40-day-long campaign by Pro-Life Action Ministries, in which the anti-abortion group occupied sidewalks in front of the Saint Paul Planned Parenthood. Pro-Life Action Ministries calls itself an “interdenominational Christian organization dedicated to publicly defending the sanctity of human life,” and its members are a common presence in front of facilities that provide abortion in the Twin Cities. They harass people trying to enter in an attempt to dissuade them from receiving abortions, and their pamphlets are rife with scare tactics and misinformation, such as spurious claims that abortions put people at risk of breast cancer and infertility, or that the first dose of a medication abortion can be “reversed” by taking large amounts of progesterone, an untested practice that lacks FDA approval.

Pro-Life Action Ministries is currently suing the city of Minneapolis over an ordinance passed last year by the city council entitled “Security of Reproductive Healthcare Facilities,” which prohibits the act of blocking access to the entrance of a reproductive healthcare facility. The group claims that this ordinance infringes on their freedom of speech, though their presence often frightens and intimidates people seeking care at these facilities.

“Even though abortion is legal in Minnesota for the time being, the social stigma and misinformation alone are enough to make people feel like abortion isn’t an option, and that stigma is alive and well with groups like these,” said MNAAC member Kristen Bledsoe in a speech preceding the car caravan. “It’s our goal today to let them know that they are not welcome here! The Twin Cities are a pro-abortion town!”

Bledsoe went on to highlight the plight of unionized Planned Parenthood workers facing repression from Planned Parenthood management, saying, “As members of MNAAC, we know that workers’ rights are reproductive rights are human rights, and we extend our solidarity in their struggle for better working conditions and fair treatment.”

MNAAC member Sarah Murphy highlighted the dangers of groups like Pro-Life Action Ministries and “crisis pregnancy centers,” saying, “These 40 Days for Life people want to make it even harder for Minnesotans and our neighbors to access reproductive healthcare. Planned Parenthood is a less-than-perfect organization, but they provide real, accurate, low-cost medical assistance to people who need it. These people camping out front saying their little prayers need to go away!”

The connection between reproductive rights and Palestinian liberation was further illustrated by Bledsoe. “The right-wing Christofascist forces behind crisis pregnancy centers and pro-life groups are the same ones behind bills that seek to criminalize the existence of trans people and further increase U.S. spending on police and military,” she said, “and they are the same ones behind the enormous sums of money that the U.S. sends to Israel to aid in their genocidal occupation of Palestine. Our politicians are sending taxpayer dollars to Israel so they can continue bombing hospitals and refugee camps. And these decisions are influenced by ‘pro-life’ lobbyists, who claim to care about the sanctity of human life!”

After decorating cars with slogans like “Eight clinics is not enough for a sanctuary state” and “Abortion is healthcare,” attendees caravanned down University Avenue, attracting cheers from passersby, before driving to the Planned Parenthood and parking in front of a small crowd of anti-abortion protesters. Chanting “Abortion is healthcare! Abortion is essential!” and “Pro-Life? That’s a lie! You don’t care if people die!”, MNAAC members confronted the protesters for several minutes and successfully disrupted their vigil.

MNAAC continues its campaign against crisis pregnancy centers via education and outreach, protests outside of “crisis pregnancy centers” (CPCs) and progress toward regulating CPCs at the city level. You can follow their work on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook at @MN_AAC.

#StPaulMN #AbortionRights #ReproductiveFreedom #MNAAC

Baton Rouge, LA – A crowd of about 100 people gathered on Sunday, January 22, at Galvez Plaza in front of Louisiana's Old State Capitol building in Baton Rouge to march on the current capitol building in protest of Louisiana's abortion ban.

Although the streets were mostly empty on the quiet Sunday afternoon, marchers refused to go unnoticed, holding signs and chanting. Organizers yelled through megaphones, “When abortion rights are under attack, what do we do?” The crowd roared in response, “Stand up! Fight back!”

Nancy Davis organized the march, with support from women's rights groups including the National Organization for Women, Planned Parenthood, and Real Name Campaign.

Davis' personal story became national news last summer when she had to travel to New York state for an abortion. Her doctors determined her pregnancy was unviable due to acrania, a condition where a fetus' skull and brain would never form. Under Louisiana law, abortion is only legal if doctors determine the mother's life is at risk. “I was forced to carry my baby to bury my baby,” she would later say on the steps of the capitol, holding back tears.

Once at the capitol building, capitol security flanked the protesters. Speakers made impassioned speeches, asked the crowd to donate to their nonprofits, and urged everyone to vote for Democratic candidates. Few of speakers mentioned abortion rights as a working-class issue, if at all. For example, Democrat State Senator Royce Duplessis told the crowd, “I will fight for affordable healthcare and a fair day’s wage for a fair day's work.”

The final speaker, Serena Sojic-Borne of Real Name Campaign, pushed back against the senator's vague promises. “We have to demand concrete policies from politicians, even if it means taking to the streets. We have to drag them kicking and screaming over the coals if that's what it takes!” she shouted. Her words stirred the crowd to cheers and applause, to the senator's dismay.

#BatonRougeLA #RoeVWade #reproductiveFreedom #AbortionRights

Tampa, FL – On Sunday, January 22, a coalition of Tampa activist groups led a 150-person march across downtown for reproductive rights. The 50th anniversary of of Roe v. Wade became a nationwide day of action rather than a day of celebration due to the Supreme Court overturning nationwide abortion rights last June.

“It was great to partner with some wonderful organizations to get folks out here on the 50th anniversary of Roe. To really make a statement and let our elected officials know that we’re not going to sit back quietly while they strip us of our reproductive freedoms,” said Heather St. Amand, west central Florida regional director of For Our Future Florida and an organizer of the march.

In addition to the overturning of Roe last year, Florida had a 15-week abortion ban signed into law. The ban has no exceptions for rape or incest. Despite this ban, those in southern states where abortion is illegal travel to Florida for access. Protecting the right to abortion in Florida will affect the south as a whole.

After  speeches from a variety of groups, protesters marched across downtown Tampa, chanting, “Not the church, not the state! People must decide their fate!” and “When abortion access is under attack, what do we do? Act up, fight back!”

More attacks on abortion in Florida are likely this year. Despite a legal appeal that suspended the 15-week abortion ban, Governor Ron Desantis overturned the court order less than a week later. When State Attorney Andrew Warren spoke against enforcing abortion bans, the Desantis administration removed him from office and appointed a Republican state attorney. A U.S. district judge  this January ruled Warren’s removal was illegal but is unable to enforce the decision because of jurisdictional issues.

Florida’s next legislative session begins in March. With a right-wing majority in the state after the 2022 midterms, the pressure from activists is needed to keep abortion legal.

St. Amand said they “will be getting folks engaged by directing them to the different groups that are heading up to Tallahassee to speak to legislators about this.”

Fifty years after Roe v. Wade, the fight to protect abortion continues. It’s a struggle that has not been forgotten since the Supreme Court decision.

#TampaFL #RoeVWade #reproductiveFreedom #AbortionRights

Milwaukee, WI – On the evening of January 18, Reproductive Justice Action – Milwaukee (RJA-M) held a press conference and small rally outside of the Milwaukee County Safety Building. This press conference called on Milwaukee District Attorney John Chisholm, to sign a pledge that echoes the promise he made in June of last year, after the fall of Roe v. Wade. It states that neither he nor his office will prosecute anyone under State Statute 940.04, which is an 1849 abortion ban that targets abortion providers.

RJA-M demands that DA Chisholm hold up his promise to his community and send the signed pledge back to them ASAP. “We intend to deliver this signed pledge to the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office, along with a community petition demanding the police adopt a standard operating procedure that truly does protect and serve our community, by refusing to investigate or arrest individuals under, or otherwise indulge, this outdated piece of legislation,” stated RJA-M Chair Lauren Forbush.

RJA-M plans to stay attentive to this call to action and will continue to hold actions to pressure the district attorney until the pledge is signed.

#MilwaukeeWI #RoeVWade #reproductiveFreedom #AbortionRights

Grand Rapids, MI – After the Supreme Court’s June 24 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a couple hundred protesters expressed anger over the unjust and undemocratic ruling by taking to the streets. Two separate protests – one at Monument Park and the other at Rosa Parks Circle – united in a march to the Kent County Courthouse in downtown.

The rally at Monument Park, called by Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) several days before, in anticipation of Friday’s decision, began at 5 p.m. FRSO’s Olivia Lashley emceed the event, which presented a host of speakers, including members of Comrades Collective, DSA and PCUSA. After the initial speeches, the group began a march through downtown to make their voices heard.

Chants of “Two, four, six, eight! You can’t make us procreate!” and “Our bodies, our lives!” rang out in the streets, as drivers honked their horns in approval. The protesters called on Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker to help suspend Michigan’s 1931 trigger law, which defines abortions as felony crimes. Canvassers, who have been working tirelessly to petition a ballot initiative guaranteeing reproductive rights for all, were out in full force gathering signatures.

A separate protest at Rosa Parks Circle, held by local Democrats, soon merged with the more militant Monument Park demonstration. With the groups marching together united, the rally reached over 200 people.

A few of the speakers linked the Supreme Court’s decision to the ongoing oppression faced by both the LGBTQ community and the immigrant community. A community activist spoke about the forced sterilizations committed by ICE on immigrant women, while another led a chant of “My body, my choice! My transition, my choice!”

The rally ended with a march back to Monument Park through the downtown streets, past the Grand Rapids Police Department. Outside the station, the group took time to recognize the recent murder of Patrick Lyoya at the hands of GRPD officer Christopher Schurr, chanting, “You can’t stop the revolution! GRPD is not the solution!”

Several more protests are planned for this weekend in Grand Rapids.

#GrandRapidsMI #RoeVWade #reproductiveRights #reproductiveFreedom

Across the world, March 8th honors the contributions of women to the people’s struggle. This year,Freedom Road Socialist Organization will hold events to celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD).

IWD was founded to honor the sacrifices of heroes named and unnamed. Some capitalists have triedto sanitize and co-opt International Women’s Day. The origins of this day are clearly anti-capitalist.Our celebrations will carry forward that spirit.

Long History, Global Reach

International Women’s Day originates in the struggle of working women in New York City. In 1908there was a determined battle by garment workers to improve their lot. There was also an intenseagitation for the right to vote. Inspired by this, the outstanding German revolutionary Clara Zetkinproposed to the socialist movement a worldwide celebration of International Women’s Day.

Women’s Rights are Bound to Reproductive Freedom for All

The main reason to celebrate International Women’s Day is not because it is 114 years. The mainreason to celebrate IWD is to build resistance against gender-based oppression. Sexual violence andintimate partner abuse continue to be tolerated and taken lightly by the U.S. legal system. It’s noaccident that the weight of these crimes falls most heavily on women, both cis and trans and alsonon-binary folks.

Systematic attacks on reproductive freedom being carried out in Texas and Mississippi are attacks onbodily autonomy. They are also an attack on democratic rights more broadly. The attempt to subjectthe people’s bodies to the control of a state, guided by a religious worldview, is not just oppressive topeople who bear children. The legal foundation of modern LGBTQ rights in the U.S. is the right toprivacy of the Fourth Amendment. The reversal of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court, which seemslikely, threatens four decades of progress for women, non-binary folks as well as LGBTQ people, nomatter our gender.

Oppressed nationality folks will be most impacted by abortion restrictions. In Mississippi, AfricanAmericans make up 80% of people having abortions but 44% of the population. The abortion rate isclosely linked to Mississippi’s level of poverty and access to health care. Mississippi has an infantmortality rate that is twice as high for Black infants. There are currently no proposals in theirlegislature to cut infant mortality, only to control people’s bodies.

Women Hold Up Half the Sky

On March 8, 2022, join Freedom Road comrades to celebrate, commemorate and continue to pullstruggles forward in celebration of International Women’s Day. Check social media pages for detailson local events. Get involved and join us.

#Minneapolis #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #reproductiveFreedom #InternationalWomensDayIWD

Austin, TX – On the evening of February 1, around 15 students at the University of Texas at Austin rallied on the steps of UT Tower to speak out for abortion rights.

Austin Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) called the rally, given the attacks on reproductive rights in Texas, Florida and across the country. Chants included, “We won’t back down from this fight, abortion is a human right!” and “When women’s rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

Speakers highlighted the need to defend abortion rights for all – women, but also trans and non-binary folks who are affected by the abortion bans.

SDS member Angela Acha also spoke about demands that students are calling for from the university administration, such as “increasing funding to the UT Gender & Sexuality Center and providing accessible menstrual products in restrooms on campus as well as gender-neutral restroom resources.” Acha and other SDS members called on students to stay organized and join organizations like SDS in demanding reproductive rights for all.

#AustinTX #StudentsForADemocraticSociety #PeoplesStruggles #reproductiveFreedom

Newburgh, NY – In Newburgh, 120 gathered at the steps of the courthouse. In New Paltz, on Main Street, 100 stood in front of Elting Library. In Poughkeepsie there were 75. In Kingston, another 150. Woodstock 100. Across the Hudson Valley we took the streets. There were actions in towns, villages and hamlets as we joined the over 650 marches taking place across the United States.

It has been a long time coming but on October 2, we gathered demanding reproductive freedom for all and support for women's liberation.

On September 1, abortion became illegal in Texas except in the very earliest stage of pregnancy and this had a ripple effect as the religious right is planning to introduce similar legislation across the U.S.

Similarly, the Supreme Court decision to allow this law to take effect is likely a sign that it could soon overturn Roe v. Wade directly and remove from American law the concept of a constitutional right to abortion and endanger the rights for women.

Key activists in the queer liberation movement, Planned Parenthood and community organizers have been mobilizing for weeks, planning for the October 2 national day of action.

In Newburgh, New York we marched from the courthouse on down to the waterfront. Newburgh is approximately 90 miles north of New York City and a part of the Mid-Hudson Valley. More than 50% of the city is Hispanic or Latin American, largely from Puerto Rico, Mexico and Cuba. 45% of the population speaks English as a second language, 60% live below the poverty line and 85% live at the poverty line.

The March was spirited, chanting, “Abortion is healthcare” and “My body, my choice! We are pro-choice.” Many people had taken time to make handmade signs with glitter and lots of great artistic flourishes. A young goth held a sign that referenced the Olivia Newton-John John Travolta movie Grease with the slogan “Keep your filthy laws off my silky draws”

An educator from a nearby town said in a conversation, “Queer rights are reproductive rights. Not everyone who gets pregnant is a woman.” Other signs referenced the gentrification taking place in towns like Newburgh, Poughkeepsie and Kingston and the movement against police brutality.

October 2 will be regarded as a benchmark where our movement made an important stand. Now the task is to build on this energy and continue the fight. As it says in the Freedom Road Socialist Organization statement, “We call for all progressive people build for and support demands to overturn this law, keep Roe v. Wade in place and work to maintain our freedom to have or not have children in the timing and manner that works for us. This is not just a question for Texas, it impacts us all.”

#NewburghNY #PeoplesStruggles #reproductiveFreedom