Activists March for Reproductive Rights Downtown

Reproductive rights activists held a rally and march in downtown Milwaukee on Saturday, Nov.9 to fight for abortion rights and safe communities.

The rally started at Red Arrow Park at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 9, and had a few hundred people all geared up in their jackets and hats to protest on the chilly day. Parents and children, friends,
and people of all ages and backgrounds participated in the march.

Fight, fight, fight, abortion is a human right,” was one of the sayings activists were shouting during the march on the streets of Milwaukee. Leaders of the march stressed the importance of being loud and that is what the crowd did.

The rally began with multiple speakers from various groups, including Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee, Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Oppression, and Freedom Road Socialist Organization. After hearing from the speakers, the crowd marched the streets of Milwaukee until reaching the Milwaukee Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse to listen to more
speeches.

This rally was in response to the recent election results in which Donald Trump was elected President and Republicans gained control of the House and Senate.

They drew the eyes of many bystanders on the downtown streets. People in their cars were honking their horns, but not in a negative way. Instead, they were cheering people on with some drivers even giving the protestors thumbs up and yelling encouragement out their windows. A few groups of bystanders on the street joined in on the march. “Even though I am much older and past the age of getting pregnant, I want those that decide or don’t decide to do that, to have that freedom,” said Kit Gould, a protestor at the rally.

Gould recounted being in a college town in California after the 2016 election, where Trump was first elected. She remembers seeing many of the reproductive rights marches and is scared that a nationwide abortion ban may be underway with the recent election results.

While Trump has said he will not file a nationwide abortion ban, he does support the state’s right to choose the legality of abortion.

Even though this march was in response to the recent election results, Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee (RJAM) acknowledged that Roe. V. Wade, the case that protected the right to abortion, fell during a democratic presidency and criticized all politicians who let this happen. They aim to hold all politicians accountable.

“People are dying at the hands of politicians that provide false promises and care more about being elected than the health and safety of our communities,” Carly Joelle, a member of
Reproductive Justice Action Milwaukee, told the crowd of activists.

RJAM is a grassroots organization in Milwaukee that aims to get Reproductive Justice for everyone and stand against their opposers.

In many states, where abortion has stricter guidelines, women have begun to suffer the consequences of these guidelines. Because of the laws, healthcare professionals are wary of performing abortions until necessary but sometimes it is too late, and death of the pregnant person and their fetus is the result.

At the rally, the names of a few women who have died because of not receiving lifesaving medical care were called out and a collective moment of silence was held for them by the crowd.

Josseli Barnica, a 28-year-old mother, was one of the women talked about by RJAM. She was experiencing a miscarriage and was not offered care to prevent a life-threatening infection because the doctors could not act until there was no fetal heartbeat due to Texas’s abortion ban. Three days later Jocelyn died of that infection.

While abortion services have resumed in Wisconsin, there are still restrictions including a 20-week abortion ban.

This last Monday, Nov. 11, days after the march, the Wisconsin Supreme Court met to discuss the 1849 law, which is a complete abortion ban. This law came back into question after Roe V.
Wade was overturned in 2022 and caused all abortion care to stop in Wisconsin. However, abortion care started again in December 2023 after a judge ruled the law applies to feticide, not
abortion.

Many Republican lawmakers have called for a version of the 1894 law to be reinstated since it was never truly repealed. The liberal judges appeared to be against the 1849 law and look to uphold abortion care in the state.