Texas rally launches day of U.S. protests against abortion restrictions

AUSTIN, Texas, October 2 (Reuters) – Suffragettes gathered in the Texas Capitol on Saturday to protest the most restrictive abortion law in the country and launched a series of 660 marches across the United States in support of reproductive freedom.

A crowd of more than 1,000 protesters gathered in the sweltering heat outside the building where lawmakers passed a measure earlier this year banning abortions after about six weeks, which Governor Greg Abbott later signed.

“Abort Abbott” appeared on several protesters’ signs and T-shirts, while others wore the Texas state slogan “Come and Take It” next to a drawing of a uterus.

“Our vision for Texas is still robust and resilient,” Ann Howard, a Travis County commissioner, which includes Austin, told the crowd. “But it’s also open and inclusive and compassionate. Our Texas protects individual freedoms.”

In Washington, DC, protesters are scheduled to march to the U.S. Supreme Court two days before the court is reconvened to discuss a session where the judges will handle a Mississippi case that could allow them to advance in the groundbreaking Roe v. Wade’s 1973 abortion law repeal case.

In a 5-4 ruling dated Sept. 1, judges denied a motion by abortion and women’s health services to block enforcement of the near-total ban in Texas.

“This is kind of a broken-glass moment for people across the country,” said Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of Women’s March, before most of the demonstrations organized by the group got underway.

Proponents of reproductive choice participate in the statewide women’s march held after Texas introduced a near-complete ban on abortion procedures and access to abortion-inducing drugs on October 2, 2021 in Houston, Texas. REUTERS / Go Nakamura

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“Many of us grew up with the idea that abortion was legal and accessible to all of us, and to see that there was very real risk involved was an awakening moment,” she said.

Carmona said the number of marches scheduled for Saturday is second only to the group’s first protest, which mobilized millions of people around the world to rally against former President Donald Trump the day after his inauguration in 2017.

The coast to coast marches were meant to involve not just Austin but other cities in Texas as well, a focal point in the nation’s struggle for abortion.

The state’s so-called “Heartbeat” law, which went into effect September 1, prohibits abortions after heart activity has been detected in the embryo, usually about six weeks. That is, before most women know they are pregnant and before 85 to 90% of all abortions are performed, experts say.

Texas is letting ordinary citizens enforce the ban as well, rewarding them with at least $ 10,000 for successfully suing anyone who helped with an illegal abortion.

In the month since the law went into effect, hundreds of women in Texas have traveled to other states for abortions while others have mailed requests for abortion-inducing pills or visited “crisis pregnancy centers” that encourage women not to have abortions. Abortion clinics are struggling to survive as patient visits decline and some employees quit.

Proponents of abortion rights and the U.S. Department of Justice have challenged the law in state and federal courts, arguing that it violates Roe v. Wade violates.

A federal judge in Austin on Friday heard the Department of Justice’s motion to temporarily block the law while its constitutionality is challenged.

Reporting by Richard Webner in Austin and Julia Harte in New York; Letter from Peter Szekely; Edited by Colleen Jenkins and Daniel Wallis

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