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U.S. Supreme Court news inspires Doylestown rally

Leaked document reveals Roe v. Wade decision would be negated

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A quickly organized rally to support abortion rights drew a deeply concerned, angry and sometimes incredulous crowd of about 100 Tuesday afternoon to the center of Doylestown Borough.
After a leaked U.S. Supreme Court document indicated a majority of the justices intend to overturn the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade decision, reproductive rights supporters took to the streets across the country to protest.
“It makes me sick to my stomach and scared for my grandchildren to live in a world without human rights, where their bodies are not their own,” said Carol Spiewak, of Solebury, as cars drove past, honking their horns in support. One driver shouted, “baby killers.”
“We need to elect Josh Shapiro and save our rights in Pennsylvania. The most important thing we can do is vote Democratic,” added Spiewak. Shapiro is the presumptive Democratic candidate in the state’s governor’s race. He and Gov. Tom Wolf have promised to protect abortion rights in Pennsylvania.
Many carried signs supporting a woman’s right to choice. “Get your politics out of my uterus,” read several. “My body is not public property,” read another. Several older women commented, “I can’t believe I’m here, again.”
Erin Kershaw, a midwife, and her daughter, Kaitlyn Walker, a student at New Hope-Solebury High School, who organized the protest, said people need to contact their legislators and support organizations such as NARAL and Planned Parenthood.

“It’s not just about abortion,” said Kershaw, “it’s about access to health care … this is scary and dangerous.” And, she added, criminalizing abortion “is an inappropriate religious agenda. We are supposed to keep religion out of politics.”
Walker said the right to a safe and legal abortion matters to younger women. “It’s really important for young women to speak out. The generation to come needs to have choice.”
“Not the church, not the state, women must decide their fate,” the crowd chanted.
Doylestown Borough resident Danielle Pollack said she came to protest the misogyny that is at the heart of making abortion a crime and to protect girls, such as her 11-year-old daughter.
“I want a world for all girls, all young women to have human and civil rights,” said Pollack. Overturning Roe v Wade and restricting abortion access, she said, “is about control over women’s most basic freedom.”
An AP/NORC poll taken last summer found 57% of Americans support legalized abortion overall in all or most cases. More than 60% approve of it in the first trimester of pregnancy.


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