Caravan to Support Womens’ Reproductive Rights Set for Saturday

Several local groups will come together Saturday on the Pasadena Caravan for Choice from the Rose Bowl to City Hall to defend reproductive rights.

Starting at 9:30 a.m. supporters in cars and on bikes will make the trek to emphasize the fact that reproductive rights matter and that abortion is a form of healthcare.

“As a nation, we are going backward,” said organizer Rebecca Fleming. “We need to stop litigating what a woman can and cannot do to her body. This is only going to force women who belong to lower socioeconomic groups to have to make horrible and antiquated ways of making choices about their own bodies.  These are incredibly personal choices and decisions that women must make. To have it litigated is insane.

“As a society, we need to stand up and join forces and make it known that this form of societal abuse against women must stop,” Fleming said.

Other events related to reproductive rights are planned around the world. 

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed a Texas law to take effect, basically prohibiting abortion after six weeks of gestation.

According to several reports, some women have been flying into California for abortions.

“The first time I stepped foot in a Planned Parenthood health center was in 2012,” said Juliana Serrano, vice president of advocacy and equity at Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley. 

“I was touring the Pasadena Health Center when a medical provider said, ‘abortion is healthcare.’ This powerful phrase stuck with me and remains relevant today as abortion rights are under attack,” Serrano said.

“Abortion access and reproductive freedom are in jeopardy. As soon as Texas enacted Senate Bill 8, a vicious abortion ban, Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley received several appointment requests from persons living outside of California,” she said. 

“As states and cities pass abortion bans, the need for an abortion doesn’t disappear. Instead, patients seek this healthcare service outside of their community or state, often traveling hundreds of miles and sleeping in their cars to access the care that they need,” she said.

Thousands of women demonstrated in several Latin American cities on Tuesday to commemorate the global day of action for access to safe and legal abortion, in a region where the procedure is fully permitted only in a handful of countries.

In Mexico City, women marched under the gaze of police with shields and wearing riot helmets. Authorities put up protective fences on some major buildings and monuments that in the past have been spray-painted during demonstrations.

The Pasadena Caravan for Choice is sponsored by Caravan for Choice, in partnership with Planned Parenthood Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley, the Women’s March’s National call to rally for Abortion Justice, SMART, NAACP Pasadena Branch, YWCA Pasadena & Glendale, POP! Pasadena, NWPC-Pasadena and SGV chapters, Radio Jornalera, ACLU- Pasadena/Foothills, Plan C, Black Women for Wellness, Indivisible Alta-Pas, Swing Left-SGV, Active SGV, SGV LGBTQ Center, Rooted in Resistance, Peace Over Violence, Day One, Glendora HS Women’s Wellness, and All Saints Church.

“Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley is proud to serve every person who walks through their door. We’re a healthcare organization that offers a safe, legal abortion to those who need it, no matter the reason or circumstance,” Serrano said.

“We know that deciding when and when not to move forward with a pregnancy is a personal choice. We know that reproductive freedom is essential to bodily autonomy, and that it is central to secure gender, economic, and racial equity in our society. We know that abortion access is fundamental to quality healthcare,” she said.

To sign up, visit: PasadenaCaravan