Marin Readies To Rally For Reproductive Rights

SAN RAFAEL, CA — Protesters will gather in San Rafael today in support abortion rights Friday, just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a landmark ruling that for nearly a half a century provided federal protections for women’s reproductive rights.

The rally is scheduled to be held at 5 p.m. at the grassy area near Civic Center. The event is paid for by the Women’s March.

The court's 6-3 decision was expected in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a repudiation of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and a subsequent case on fetal viability, Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

In May, Justice Samuel Alito Jr.'s majority opinion draft was leaked to Politico, setting the stage for a seismic shift in abortion rights.

Congressman Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), blasted the ruling.

“The extreme, out of touch, right-wing Supreme Court has overturned the constitutional right to abortion, tearing apart decades of legal precedent. A cascade of dire consequences and restrictions will now sweep across the country, falling hardest on those who already face the most barriers to care: Black and Brown women, folks who can’t afford care, young people and LGBTQ people, and women suffering domestic violence are now all at the highest risk. This radical conservative court – put into power largely by presidents who lost the popular vote – have now stripped away the freedoms of millions of people in America, putting their health care decisions in the hands of politicians,” Huffman said in a statement.

“This ruling doesn’t change the fact that abortions are health care, and countless women will still need to access it. In California, our rights are still protected – and we will continue to protect and expand access to abortion so no one is denied the care they need. I will keep fighting in Washington to protect abortion providers, restore the right to reproductive health care, and safeguard the many other rights won based on Roe v. Wade that are now in danger under this abhorrent Supreme Court.”

The court's three liberal justices — Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — dissented in what was the most anticipated decision of the court's current term after the leaked opinion draft. They criticized what they call the majority's "cavalier approach to overturning this Court's precedents."

The implications of the ruling are immediate. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said he was acting immediately to enforce a state law banning abortion except in "cases of medical emergency." His state is one of 13 with trigger provisions that take effect immediately.

At least 26 states are certain or likely to make it nearly impossible for a woman to get a procedure that was legal for her mother, grandmother or even great-grandmother, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

With the decision, abortion would be illegal or a nearly impossible procedure to get in about half of U.S. states, including large swaths of the South, Midwest and Northern Plains.

"Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws," the dissenters wrote, "one result of today's decision is certain: the curtailment of women's rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens."

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said the watershed ruling is "a slap in the face of women" that puts abortion on the ballot in the November midterm elections.