The 50-year anniversary of historic Supreme Court decision reflected reality of post-Roe America
By: MADELEINE YOUNG — city@theaggie.org
On Jan. 21, the weekend of what would be the 50-year anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, Planned Parenthood Mar Monte hosted a “Remembering Roe” rally at the Davis Community Church downtown. The rally was used as a decompression space for attendees, with speakers discussing the new realities of the reproductive rights movement in a post-Roe America.
“We’re really excited to be partnering with Planned Parenthood Mar Monte because, as everyone is aware, the issues that have occurred recently that are attacking our most vulnerable populations are very relevant to our groups,” Davis District 4 Councilmember Gloria Partida said at the rally. “When you begin to take away rights from those folks, it affects everyone, so we are very concerned about the direction that our nation is going in.”
Maiya De La Rosa, an organizer with Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, talked about what Planned Parenthood is doing to ensure they can continue to provide abortion access.
“We’re contacting additional abortion providers because of an influx of people who are coming out of state and that’s going to continue going forward,” De La Rosa said. “We’re continuing to train providers as well as developing new health centers. Right now we are one of the first affiliates to do behavioral health and provide federal centers as well as primary care. We’re expanding our primary care services throughout the Central Valley and Sacramento.”
De La Rosa was accompanied by California State Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, who represents District 4, which includes Davis. She also spoke about the state of reproductive rights in post-Roe America.
“We’re here to fight for our rights because our rights have been taken away by the Supreme Court,” Aguiar-Curry said. “Last year’s draft opinion overturning Roe was leaked and it was a gut punch to every single one of us. I kept saying to myself ‘It can’t be happening, it can’t be happening,’ and I’ve been fighting for this. […] When the final decision dropped, we weren’t surprised, but that morning, we woke up to a new America.”
Many UC Davis students attended the event, including first-year Sia Patel, who is a political science public service major.
“I thought it was really inspiring and honestly kind of emotional,” Patel said about the event. “It’s sad to think about how much has changed since Roe was overturned and how we’re almost receding.”
Aguiar-Curry discussed the importance of educating people about reproductive services that are still available.
“We should be doing more of these kinds of events where people can get educated,” Aguiar-Curry said. “I don’t think people understand the whole conversation about abortion, so it’s really important that we do these events. It takes brave men and women to come and do these because not everybody agrees and they feel like they’ve been left out so many times, so I think it’s the more we get out and educate people, the more we show that we have compassion and understanding. That is what’s going to change the world.”
Aguiar-Curry encouraged people to get involved and protect abortion access for all those affected.
“As the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg said, ‘The decision whether or not to bear a child is central to a woman’s life, to her well-being and her dignity. It is a decision she must make for herself,’” Aguilar-Curry said. “If you’re as angry as I am, and I don’t get mad very often, but I get organized. And let’s get ruthless, let’s fight this. This is the fight of our lives, not just for us, but for future generations.”
Written by: Madeleine Young — city@theaggie.org
