Tri-Valley Rallies For Roe

LIVERMORE, CA — A group of around 40 demonstrators held a rally in Tuesday evening in Livermore over a leaked draft of a majority opinion overturning Roe. v. Wade. Chief Justice John Roberts has confirmed the draft’s authenticity.

The Livermore rally was among many held throughout the country in communities large and small Tuesday in response to a ruling that one Bay Area congressman called a “gut punch.”

Demonstrators shared personal accounts at Tuesday’s rally, at which organizers aimed to declare their view that “abortion is health care, and we will keep fighting for it.”

The rally was jointly held at Strockmen’s Park by the groups Livermore Indivisible and Tri-Valley Progressives.

Mel Chiong, a Livermore Indivisible member, described the experience of a childhood friend who elected to have an abortion despite strongly held religious beliefs after doctors advised her that the pregnancy threatened her life.

“She chose her own life, she made her own decision,” Chiong said.

“The bottom line was that decision was hers and hers alone; her neighbors didn’t have to know it and her state didn’t have to know it because it was a private, personal decision that she and her husband made.

“So in as much as this is a rights issue and a privacy issue, this is also a health care issue… And we know who is going to be hit the hardest. Minorities and the economically disadvantaged.”

Livermore Councilmember Patricia Munro said her fellow council members were at the rally “in spirit” and read a statement from Mayor Bob Woerner.

“The Supreme Court draft indicates the very real possibility that that they are intent on taking away fundamental women’s rights, these human rights,” Woerner’s statement said.

“These rights are essential to our society and have been won through many hard-fought battles. We cannot let our society be led backwards by the courts, supported by misguided legislatures.”