Community organizations in Humboldt, California have been fighting back against the threat to Roe v. Wade since the Supreme Court draft decision leaked on May 3. In the weeks since, members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, Peace and Freedom Party and Cooperation Humboldt have rallied in front of the Humboldt County Superior Court in Eureka, and the plaza square in downtown Arcata. Each week they have been joined by local activists and concerned residents ready to “abort the court” according to hand painted signs, and calling on passing vehicles to “honk for human rights.”
On June 10 at 5 p.m., despite record breaking heat, these rallies culminated in an action beginning at the Old Town Gazebo Fountain in Eureka with a speech by PFP organizer Hannah LoBue-Deshais. She said to a crowd of nearly 75 participants that, “I will not let my rights be stripped from me and so many beautiful people who desperately want to claim their bodily autonomy.”
After the speech, participants marched across downtown Eureka, chanting, “Not the church and not the state, women must decide their fate!”
The march arrived at the Humboldt County Superior Court where speeches resumed with PFP organizer Marquila Lee telling the story of Jane Roe and the historic Supreme Court decision that they came to defend: “Today, we come together to demand that Congress and the president pass a federal law making abortions legal and accessible to all that seek one.”
Lee continued, “Democrats have had multiple chances to pass such a law since 1973, and have failed to do so. It is clear that these politicians hear our pleas and ignore them while holding our rights over us for their own political gains. We need to let them know that we will be ignored no longer.”
Speeches concluded with a call for working class solidarity and a promise to continue the fight to defend and expand abortion access. We will not go back, we will fight back!
