The Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion on overturning the landmark case that legalized abortion nationwide in 1973 has sparked an outcry from women’s rights advocates.
With a leaked draft opinion suggesting the Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade and the abortion protections it has guaranteed for half a century, women's rights advocates have committed to fighting for freedom.
"I am hearing from people literally every single hour," Jesse Mermell said Wednesday.
Mermell previously worked for Planned Parenthood and ran in the Democratic primary for the Congress seat held by Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts.
"I am hearing terror," said Mermell. "I am hearing anger. I am hearing from everyone across the political perspective."
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Amanda Hunter is with the Barbara Lee Foundation, which conducts non-partisan research to advance women in politics.
"This will be a very interesting development to see how many women are re-activated into politics," Hunter said.
The foundation found many women were burned out from the pandemic and were opting out of politics.
"What will be interesting will be to see how many women may choose to get involved in politics, maybe from other professional backgrounds, because of the news that broke this week," said Hunter.
More on Roe v. Wade
Rebecca Hart Holder is part of Reproductive Equity Now. She expects whether directly in politics, or through volunteering, more will act on the state level to ensure their rights here Massachusetts.
The Boston Red Cloaks are doing just that. The group advocates for reproductive rights and women's voting rights.
"There was a young woman who was on our Red Cloaks Zoom who was just ecstatic to find us through her mother," said Kate Kavanagh. "People have been kind of phoning it in for years, kind of assuming that someone else is going to take care of it. I hope they know it's no longer the case that we all need to stand up and do something right now, or our world is going to look a lot different."
The Boston Red Cloaks are holding a rally at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Massachusetts State House.
