An emergency rally was held on Wednesday at Monument Circle by the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) of Indianapolis in response to the leaked Supreme Court opinion about the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that currently guarantees the right to abortions nationally.
News broke Monday about the leaked draft of the Supreme Court opinion, suggesting that they would vote to reverse the landmark Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade. The draft opinion prompted a quick response and an emergency rally organized by PSL Indianapolis.
According to PSL Indianapolis and IndyStar, over 500 abortion-rights protestors were in attendance to show their opposition of the Supreme Court opinion. The rally consisted of several speakers condemning the draft opinion and encouraging others to help those who need access to abortions.
According to PSL Indianapolis’ official statement about the Supreme Court leak, “The Supreme court has declared war against women and our basic rights to control our own bodies. Now is the time to fight back. Millions of people going into the streets would make it clear that without justice there can be no peace.”
PSL Indianapolis also calls for the abolishment of the Supreme Court.
“Nine unelected judges, appointed for lifetime terms, should not have the discretion to eviscerate the rights of hundreds of millions of people in the United States,” The statement said. “This institution makes a mockery out of the notion of a democratic society.”
Noah Leininger, an organizer for PSL Indianapolis, spoke on what the organization hoped to achieve at the protest.
“We hope to send a clear message that in the heartland of the United States, a so-called red state that is supposedly very conservative, that there are many many people that do not support bans on abortion,” Leininger said.
Jessica Louise, a spokesperson for Indy10 Black Lives Matter, was a speaker at the protest.
“When I spoke, I encouraged people to get connected to being an abortion doula or a clinic escort, donating to grassroots organizations who hold abortion funds that are able to more closely connect to the needs that people who are seeking to end or to terminate their pregnancy and also to expand their thinking from being pro-choice to pro-abortion so that anyone should be able to get an abortion at any time simply for the reason that they don’t want to be pregant.”
When asked what the next step is if Roe v. Wade is overturned, Louise said “The next step is to mobilize and to make sure that on a state level, states understand that the power also lies with them to protect reproductive rights.”
Louise acknowledges that while Indiana is not a state that has a history of protecting reproductive rights, she has hope that with a lot of mobilization, conservative states can someday value reproductive justice.
A group of counter protestors from Indianapolis anti-abortion groups also showed up at the protest to show their support for Supreme Court opinion about Roe v. Wade. Many of the anti-abortion protestors in attendance were college students from Students for Life.
Tensions escalated between the two groups as some shoving and shouting took place, but no one was reported to have been injured at the event.
Another abortion-rights rally organized by Pro-Choice with Heart is scheduled to take place at the Indiana Statehouse on May 15.
Katie Wiseman (she/her) is a junior majoring in journalism with a minor in Spanish. She is the editor of the Campus section for The Campus Citizen.
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