Roe v. Wade Decision Sparks Fiery White Plains Protest

About 500 pro-choice supporters fired up by Friday’s Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade rallied in White Plains Sunday afternoon vowing to protect a woman’s right to have access to an abortion.

For close to two hours a string of fiery speakers, including elected officials, implored the crowd that they must get out to vote in every election to combat right-wing efforts that may not only doom the rights of women to make their own reproductive decisions but rights for other groups as well.

Elaine Summers, a district leader for the White Plains Democratic City Committee, which organized the rally outside of the county courthouse, was one of several women who told deeply personal stories about what might have happened if they were forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term. Summers, the mother of a son, was pregnant in her 30s while divorced when she made the difficult decision to terminate.

The burdens of an unwanted pregnancy will have far more impact on those least able to afford it, she said.

“Make no mistake, this is a war against women, a war against women of color, a war against poor women,” Summers said.

Catherine Lederer-Plaskett, executive director of Westchester Coalition for Legal Abortion (WCLA-Choice Matters), said despite recent polls that show that more than eight in 10 Americans did not want Roe overturned, Republicans are going to try to make this year’s election cycle about crime and inflation.

However, not every Democrat is pro-choice, and for some of those who say they are, the issue is low on their priority list. Lederer-Plaskett urged the crowd to educate themselves on where they stand. She said the only pro-choice candidates in Tuesday’s gubernatorial primaries are Gov. Kathy Hochul and Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado.

“If you don’t do your homework, if you don’t find out who you’re voting for, not shame on you, shame on your children, shame on all other people you’re screwing,” Lederer-Plaskett said.

Former congressional candidate and author Allison Fine said the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved an abortion medication 22 years ago that she contended is 98 percent effective and is as safe as taking Tylenol, but the agency restricts it along with about 75 other “dangerous” pills. She urged the crowd to sign a change.org petition to pressure the FDA to let the public have greater access to them.

Fine also appealed to women to visit the website www.aidaccess.org, a European nonprofit organization that offers mifepristone and misoprostol, the abortion medications. They are good for two years before they expire.

She also denounced Republican efforts to control women.

“Their job is to create chaos and to make us so afraid that we do nothing, right,” Fine said. “We’re not going to do that because every person here is fierce and fearless and focused.”

When Assemblywoman Amy Paulin (D-Scarsdale) said she heard about Friday’s decision, as someone who has fought for women’s issues all her life “she felt and I still fear my entire life flashing before me.”

She also said that her daughter and women of that younger generation had moved on to other issues, believing that the right to an abortion was safe. But Paulin said this latest chapter in the fight for women’s reproductive freedom give her hope that people will focus on its importance.

One of the most animated speakers of the afternoon was Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-Yonkers). The freshman congressman said the nation favoring large corporations and the wealthy perpetuates the institution of white supremacy, where only the privileged few get to wield power and make decisions for people of color, women and the poor.

Bowman was one of several speakers to plead with the crowd to take every election seriously because while New Yorkers may feel safe for now, there are those who don’t want abortion anywhere in the United States.

“I think we all have to take a little bit of responsibility for this because I think we got too comfortable with Obama (as President) and thinking things were cool and we were chilling,” Bowman said. “We thought we were going to transition from Obama to Hillary and be done with it.

“But we’ve got to do the hard work and go through the hard times to make sure we’re protecting and saving civil rights and our basic rights.”

Among those who think that the unpopularity of overturning Roe v. Wade will change the dynamics of the mid-term elections is Lederer-Plaskett, particularly in swing districts where a candidate from one party is not a prohibitive favorite.

Assemblyman Chris Burdick (D-Bedford) said he was pleased that about two weeks ago Hochul signed one of the bills that he sponsored to protect women who come from out of state to seek an abortion. He also supported five other measures that strengthened abortions in New York State.

“This just goes to show that anything can happen, and so I strongly believe that we need to have protections in New York by putting it in the New York State Constitution and I will strongly continue to advocate for that,” Burdick said.

Burdick said he can’t wait to return to Albany after the governor called the legislature back for a special session in hopes of doing more not only regarding abortion but the high court’s ruling from Thursday that allows greater latitude in New York to carry weapons.

County Executive George Latimer said now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe, contraception, LGBTQ issues and perhaps some others that most people now take for granted could be in jeopardy. He said the Republicans and the justices they have appointed “intend to make this 1880 America.”

“The big picture here is we have to stop the changing of America,” Latimer said. “That’s what’s at hand. That’s what we’re up against. Roe v. Wade is one part of that, and so are the gun laws, so is marriage equality and so are all the other things that are subject to change.”

Several attendees said that despite the warnings, it seemed improbable that Roe would be overturned. MaryAnne Goodman of Valhalla said she couldn’t believe it happened.

“I definitely did not think this day would come,” Goodman said. “We’re going so backward in many ways that it just boggles my mind.”

Maya Carvalho-Evans of Sleepy Hollow, who was at the rally with her sister Alicia, was saddened by the decision.

“Just the fact that it was up for questions was really heartbreaking for me and was really, really difficult to come to terms with, and then the day it was actually overturned I was like in so much shock,” Carvalho-Evans said. “I didn’t know we’d be living in a country in 2022 where as women we wouldn’t have rights.”

Sunday’s White Plains rally followed three local rallies Friday evening in Yorktown, Pleasantville and Irvington.