The nationwide march comes just two days before the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments in an abortion rights case out of Jackson, Mississippi.
"All of us know what's at stake here and what this also tells us is that the right wing and Christian right are scared of our power," said Shapiro, 38, the head organizer for Women's March National since 2020 who will attend the march at Freedom Plaza in D.C. on Oct. 2. "They want to control women's bodies as a means to exert control."
Shapiro said that on Saturday "we will register our defiance at the legislation in Texas as well as the Supreme Court potentially overturning one of the most popular public policies around, and that would be Roe v. Wade."
Roe v Wade is the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal nationwide, a decision that is under attack federally and via actions by Republican-dominated legislatures nationwide to strip women of their constitutional rights to have a say it what goes on with their bodies.
As a grassroots organizer, trainer, popular educator and strategist who has worked in the service of U.S. Southern freedom movements for gender, sexual, racial and economic justice for the last 12 years or more, Shapiro said that major marches next Saturday will be in the Texas cities of Houston, San Antonio, Brownsville and El Paso, in D.C., and in major cities across the country such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Phoenix, Detroit, and Cleveland. In Ohio, major marches will be held in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, and Youngstown (Editors note: To find a march in a particular city on Oct 2 go to Womensmarch.com. Cleveland's event will begin with a noon rally on Sat., Oct. 2 at Market Square Park across from the West Side Market at the corner of W 25th Street and Lorain Avenue. It will be followed by a 1:30 pm march (Contact. Tel (216) 659-0473. Email: editor@clevelandurbannews.com). CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE FACEBOOK PAGE FOR THE UPCOMING RALLY AND MARCH IN CLEVELAND, OHIO ON OCTOBER 2, 2021
Asked whether she believes that the Biden administration has risen to the occasion to fight with women for their reproductive freedoms and constitutional and statutory rights, Shapiro said that Women's March National is pleased that the Biden administration has filed suit against the new Texas law and its six week ban on abortion.
That suit was filed earlier this month in Texas with the Biden administration saying the state law at issue is "clearly unconstitutional." In fact, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland called the law, which bans abortion after a month and a half of pregnancy even in cases of rape and incest, is one that "all Americans should fear."
Women's March and over 90 other organizations, including Planned Parenthood and Naral Pro Choice, are organizing a national call to mobilize on Oct. 2 and "defend our reproductive rights," organizers said.
What exactly is the Women's March?
By Kathy Wray Coleman. Coleman is a former public school biology teacher and a Black political and investigative reporter who trained for 17 years at the Call and Post Newspaper in Cleveland, Ohio
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