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Abortion rights advocates plan protest over the 110 Freeway on Tuesday to ‘stop the bans'

By Mary Stringini, FOX 11
Published  May 21, 2019 5:52pm PDT
News
FOX 11 Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (FOX 11) - Abortion rights protesters trying to stop a wave of anti-abortion laws across the country are planning an "emergency demonstration" protest on Tuesday evening in Los Angeles.

More than 50 organizations -- including the American Civil Liberties Union, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Women's March and NARAL Pro-Choice America -- are participating in #StopTheBans protests nationwide.

This major nationwide mobilization comes on the heels of Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, and other states passing radical bans on abortion, in some cases, criminalizing abortion before many women even know they're pregnant, threatening to prosecute or investigate women, and throw doctors in prison, and with Louisiana poised to sign into law a similar ban on abortion.

"Across the country, we are seeing a new wave of extreme bans on abortion, stripping away reproductive freedom and representing an all-out assault on abortion access," organizers said.

Supporters of the abortion laws are hoping that the Supreme Court will back the measures and reverse or weaken the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationally, because they hope to spark court cases that might prompt the justices to revisit abortion rights.

"Until the day that we no longer have abortions in this country, I will never waver in the fight for life," Missouri's Republican Governor Mike Parson said last week during a rally with supporters of the legislation.

"To the bill's many supporters, this legislation stands as a powerful testament to Alabamians' deeply held belief that every life is precious and that every life is a sacred gift from God," Republican Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement.

NARAL Pro-Choice California is calling on activists and residents to gather at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Wilshire Blvd Overpass over the 110 Freeway as an act of protest. Attendees were encouraged to bring signs, posters, and banners to decorate the overpass.