Sheila Bates, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Long Beach, stepped onto the bench and spoke before the hundreds of demonstrators who gathered to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
The organizer said the overturning of the landmark case disproportionally affected the lives of minority women.
“A ban on safe and legal abortion has been estimated to potentially increase Black maternal death rate by 33%,” Bates said. “All of this, while Black babies die at nearly 2.3 times the rate of white babies.”
A diverse group of demonstrators gathered at Liberty Park in Long Beach on Sunday to march in protest of the Supreme Court’s decision that overturned Roe v. Wade last summer.
The march was held on the 50-year anniversary of Roe v. Wade, when the Supreme Court initially ruled in favor of abortion rights on Jan. 22, 1973.
Long Beach resident Hattie Herring, her daughter Dr. Sharifa Batts and granddaughter Sydney Traxler joined the protest that gathered at the Long Beach Courthouse, where the march concluded.
“I had a life-or-death situation, where the doctor told me that if I didn’t have an abortion I would die,” Herring said. “That’s the situation with a lot of women whether it’s medical, or they’ve been raped or abused. They should have that right to make a choice.”
Lisa Del Sesto coordinated the event with her organization, LB/OC Women Rising, a social justice group that advocates for women’s reproductive rights, such as Proposition 1, during the 2022 midterms.
“I love when a diverse group of individuals can come together and realize that we are all caring about the same thing and looking towards the same goals in life,” Sesto said. “I think that is really, truly what America, as a melting pot, was always meant to be.”
Attorney Gloria Allred, a famously recognized feminist lawyer, participated in the march with Jane Roe’s daughter, Melissa Mills, and spoke about her own experience trying to get an abortion in the 1960s.
Allred said she had become pregnant after being raped at gunpoint in Mexico. When she returned to California, she discovered it was against the law to assist a pregnant woman with an abortion, regardless of circumstance.
“I, like many women at that time, had a back-alley abortion by somebody who was not a licensed health care provider,” Allred said. “I was left in a pool of my own blood hemorrhaging in a bathtub. The abortion provider said, ‘I’m sorry, I can only help you with abortion. I can’t help you with what happens afterward.'”
She was able to call an ambulance and was taken to the hospital with a 106-degree fever but received little sympathy from the hospital.
Tsukuru Fors, a participator in the march, said he drove from Los Angeles to support women’s rights because of his own personal connection to their struggle.
“I’m a trans person– I was assigned female at birth, and I was socially recognized as a woman for 50 years,” Tsukuru said. “I know what it’s like to live as a woman and the disadvantages that come with that. We should really try to change as much as we can because women deserve better.”
Political figures including Congressman Robert Garcia, Congresswoman Katie Porter, Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson and Sunny Zia, a Long Beach Community College Board of Trustees member, were also invited to speak during the protest.
Congressman Garcia said he realized during his first two weeks in congress that Republicans are determined to take these rights away from women and minorities.
“Real American patriotism is recognizing you actually love your country, and you have to stand up for those that need your help the most,” Garcia said. “I’m grateful to stand with people who are demanding access to abortion care without question. I will do whatever I can to support women to lead this movement.”