Massive protest precedes Inauguration in D.C.
The Women's March organized an event, retitled The People's March, that emphasized abortion rights and gender equality, among other issues.
Over the weekend, I attended the People’s March in Washington D.C. upon the invitation of Karen Mulhauser, the executive director of NARAL in the 1970s, who wrote the foreword for my forthcoming book.
Thousands were reported to have attended by mainstream media. Our day got started in Franklin Park, where several abortion rights leaders spoke from a platform. Among them was Mini Timmaraju, who runs Reproductive Freedom For All, which used to be known as NARAL Pro-Choice America.
“When we take this issue directly to the people, the people are with us,
Timmaraju said. “Our job now is to make sure those people understand how this administration is going to continue to erode their rights.”
“We can stop them. That's the good news I'm leaving with you today. We can do it. We can stop them. So, the final thing I want to leave you with is we're the majority. This election makes you feel like maybe we're being gaslit into thinking or the minority.”
Fatima Goss Graves, the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund president, also spoke there.
“When reproductive freedom is denied, our entire country is in danger,” Graves said. “We've seen it happen outside this country. We've seen it happen inside this country.
“The minute they control our bodies, the minute they control our ability to make our decisions for ourselves, the right to grow our families, how we want to grow our families, the right to save our own lives…we are in trouble because it's a sign of something bigger. It's a sign of authoritarianism. It's a sign of autocracy. It's a sign that we must act.”
Here are some photos and videos of the march.
