Supporters of abortion rights head to Washington for rally

[Judi Lynn]

April 24, 2004, 12:22AM

Supporters of abortion rights head to Washington for rally
By JOE BLACK
Copyright 2004 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau


The march has been endorsed by 1,400 other groups. Organizers say 53 countries will be represented in the march.


WASHINGTON -- Tens of thousands of abortion-rights supporters are headed to Washington for what organizers are predicting will be the largest rally in the movement's history.
(snip)

Several hundred thousand people are expected to attend, according to organizers who say the demonstration should easily surpass the half-million women's rights supporters who gathered in Washington in 1992. Organizers say more than 300 marchers are coming from Houston, along with representatives from 53 countries.

The march comes on the same weekend as anti-globalization groups hit town to protest outside the annual spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Similar protests in past years resulted in mass arrests and major street closings.

The main demonstration against the financial lending institutions is expected today with thousands taking to the streets to protest IMF-World Bank policies they say are harmful to impoverished countries.
(snip/...)

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/2527256
(Free registration required)

The article mentions members of the Kendall County Area Democratic Women's club going around selling geraniums in order to get a bus to take people to Washington from their area.

I remember hearing from a DU'er from Southern California months ago who was hoping to go. Hope she gets to make the trip from California.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On edit:

Adding article about Christian women from South Florida who are going up to the demonstration, too:

Faithful to march - but for choice
Bay area residents will join hundreds of thousands of other women in Washington, D.C., to support abortion.
By EILEEN SCHULTE, Times Staff Writer
Published April 24, 2004


At 44, Becky DeLay has never marched on the National Mall.

She and her husband of 19 years, Bob, a retired Marine, live a quiet life in a cozy house with blue shutters on a Palm Harbor street called Honeybear Court.

Most days, she watches the construction of her pool deck and goes to classes at the University of South Florida. She attends worship services regularly at Faith United Church of Christ in Clearwater.

But this Sunday morning, instead of listening to her pastor's sermon, she will leave her hotel room at the Ritz and march with hundreds of thousands of other women down Pennsylvania Avenue in support of abortion rights.
(snip)

http://www.sptimes.com/2004/04/24/Tampabay/Faithful_to_march___b.shtml

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On edit:

Simultaneously, other people will arrive in Washington on behalf of the world population vs. World Bank & IMF:

Noisy Protests Expected at World Financial Meeting
Fri Apr 23, 2004 06:16 PM ET


By Laura MacInnis
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Thousands of demonstrators wielding whistles, drums, pots and pans are expected to protest in Washington this weekend against the policies of world financial leaders holding semi-annual meetings in the city.

Mobilization for Global Justice, an activist group based in Washington, is planning a demonstration outside the World Bank and International Monetary Fund headquarters during the meetings on Saturday.

Organizers said on Friday they expected thousands of demonstrators for the rally, modeled after Latin American "cacerolazo" pot-banging demonstrations.

Police massed at several sites around Washington on Friday in advance of the meetings, although they and the protest organizers expect the demonstrations to be peaceful and smaller than past raucous and sometimes violent anti-globalization protests in cities such as Seattle, Genoa and Washington.
(snip)

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=4927452§ion=news

[MaineDem]

1. Mainers off to D.C. abortion-rights rally

AUGUSTA -- Rebecca Delisle wants to send a message to the Bush administration -- that women have the constitutional right to reproductive freedom and heath-care services.

The 34-year-old accountant from Vassalboro will get her chance this weekend, along with more than 1 million other women expected to converge at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., for the March for Women's Lives.

Delisle is part of a 355-member delegation that the Family Planning Association of Maine is sending to Washington to participate in a rally on Sunday. The march on the National Mall is sponsored by the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association.

http://www.onlinesentinel.com/news/local/605846.shtml

I'm leaving shortly. :)

[fudge stripe cookays]

2. I'm flying out in a couple hours.

Figures, we've got nasty thunderstorms and lightning here. I bleeping HATE flying when it's like this.

When we left Toronto in October I was a claustrophobic, crying wreck when we took off in a rainstorm. The damned pilot didn't get up out of the clouds for about an hour. I thought I was going to throw up.

[Arugula Latte]

24. I went to the '92 march

when I lived on the East Coast. Wish I could go to this one ... Good luck to all marchers! Thank you for going! You represent millions and millions.

[chelaque liberal]

3. My daughter will be there. I'm so proud of the woman she grew into.

[fudge stripe cookays]

4. You done good, CL!

:-)

[PoliticalHoodlum]

5. Marchers are well-intentioned but misguided

I hope that within the century, abortion will be recognized for the barbaric violence againt children that it is.-- much the same as we now recognize slavery and Japanese internment for the horror they were.
These marchers mean well, but they are so wrong on this issue.

[ima_sinnic]

8. no, marchers know it must be kept legal nevertheless

. . . just because it is "barbaric violence against children" does not change the fact that it has been carried out since the dawn of time by one means or another. If not legal, it will still go on, except in unsanitary, illegal back alley facilities (oh, women with money will get much better conditions, of course). Just because it is legal does not mean it is "condoned" or promoted. It was made legal in response to a real need for an alternative to women dying from blood loss, peritonitis and associated complications brought on by dirty "instruments" like bent coat hangers.

[MaineDem]

9. You've established when a zygot becomes a "child"?

Thank you for your opinion.

[murielm99]

11. Violence against children???

A child is a child, a fetus is a fetus.

Barbaric violence against women is much more of an issue. Do not assume that zygotes, or fetuses have personhood.

Women have the right to make their own reproductive choices, whether you like it or not.

I can't believe we are still arguing about this, or that you have the nerve to come to this board and make such sweeping asinine statements.

I pay to be here, and you are offensive, mr./ms. twenty two posts.

[JanMichael]

16. Let's see: Regressive Taxation (Ie. Anti-Progressive IT); Anti-Choice...

...

Comparing Women's Reproductive Rights to Slavery and Japanese Internment? I suppose "A Handmaid's Tale" is a Romance Novel?

Wow, how utterly Progressive:eyes:

[rasputin1952]

17. What about RU-486?

This is a viable alternative, but it is also denied to women. Long before a viable entity can become attached to the uterus, it does its job. But there is still opposition to this, or any other form of birth control.

This leads me to believe, that it is not BC that is the issue, but rather, sex is the issue. It is one group trying to enforce their values on another, plain and simple.

Choice is precisely that, choice. And that choice, should be between the individuals directly invoved in the process. I may not agree with abortion, but I surely don't have the right to tell others what to do in this situation. Just as I would not demand that woman carry the child to term, I would not demand that a woman have an abortion. Basically, it is none of my business.

[Tansy_Gold]

23. Distinction between RU-486 aka abortion pill aka mifepristone

and "EC" aka emergency contraception aka morning-after-pill aka Plan B.

RU-486 is the abortion pill. It is taken, I believe actually in two stages, after a woman determines she is in fact pregnant. It is only effective during a relatively small window early in the pregnancy and is only prescribed by a physician and the woman is supposed to return after the first "dose" for follow-up care. The pharmaceutical name for this drug is mifepristone. It is barely legal in the U.S. and is not available even though legal in many communities because pharmacy chains, most notably WalMart, refuse to carry it.

Emergency contraception is another matter. This is the "morning after" pill, used by women who have unprotected sex without birth control or whose barrier birth control has failed (hence, the name "Plan B") and fear they may have become pregnant. EC consists of a large dose of the standard birth control hormones and essentially prevents the implantation of any fertilized egg that may be present. EC is also commonly used in cases of rape.

Many Catholic hospitals that have emergency rooms that treat rape victims will not offer or even provide EC, on the grounds of religious belief.

RU-486 does indeed induce abortion; that is its purpose. As far as I know, there have been a grand total of two deaths attributed even remotedly to RU-486, and at least one has been dismissed as probably due to an underlying infection exacerbted by the abortion, rather than directly to the abortion or the medication.

Just the facts.

Tansy Gold

[slinkerwink]

18. those are not children---those are fetuses

[Snellius]

19. I agree. Any woman who has an abortion should be executed?

That is the accepted penalty for murder, I believe?

You people who are so convinced that your enemies are godless, blood-thirsty baby-killers seem to want to hold onto the object of your hate more than you want to really find a solution. Do you want abortion to be prosecuted and penalized as murder?

[dawn]

20. Well, maybe in this lifetime *you* will realize...

that you can't control what other women do with their wombs. Sorry, buddy, I don't want the USA to morph into the Handmaid's Tale because you "care" so much for the children.

If you care for unwanted children, why don't you voice some support for added welfare for poor families? The children born into those families are innocent victims, right? So why do we punish them? Oh yeah, because their mom had sex.

Or volunteer in an orphanage?

Then again, why am I bothering? With your 22 posts, you are obviously a troll.

[bubblesby2002]

21. It is NOT "barbaric violence against children"

a fetus is not a child until it can live and breathe on it's own. It is barbaric violence against women to make them bear something that is not wanted. And perhaps you are too young to remember the many women who died because of back alley abortions. I know you mean well but you are so wrong on this issue.

[newyawker99]

25. Hi Political Hoodlum!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[maddezmom]

26. LOL, looks like he left

:evilgrin:

[Garion_55]

6. I will be there!!

I'll take a bunch of pics. and post em here.

[Ilsa]

7. Best wishes to all of you!

Wish I could go, but someone has to watch my kids and my husband is very busy at work these days. I used to go to rallies in Dallas, but that was 12 years and 350 miles ago. I can't believe we're still having to fight for this.

[Judi Lynn]

10. Too true, Ilsa.

I can't believe we're still having to fight for this.

God only knows what's in store if _{George Bush} gets back in the White House after the 2004 election.

Best wishes for a safe trip to Maine Dem, fudge stripe cookays, chelaque liberal's daughter, and Garion_55. Hope it's very well attended.

[murielm99]

12. I will be there.

I am leaving in about an hour. My girls will be there, too.

My 20 year old is coming with NARAL, from Iowa. My 24 year old is coming from Western Pennsylvania with Planned Parenthood.

I am coming from Chicago.

[Judi Lynn]

15. Great news! Three from your family, too.

Quite a turn-out. Hope you have a safe trip. Sounds like you're very serious, and we should be.

[DS1]

13. Written by Joe Black

:evilgrin:

[revcarol]

14. Seems he can only see the NARROW view.

"Abortion rights" as opposed to women's rights to care for their own health and welfare unimpeded by government and the right to be free of violence perpetuated against women.

WHY do the newspapers select as writers people who must put in their own NARROW view? If he'D talked to any of the leaders coming from all over the world, he'd know that violence against women takes many forms.

YUKKO TO BLACK.:thumbsdown:

[bubblesby2002]

22. To everyone going to the march

I am so very proud of you. I wish I could join you. I gratefully thank you.