Rally attendees mourn Roe v. Wade, encourage people to vote 

Déjà vu was in full swing for many of the hundreds gathered in front of the San Luis Obispo Courthouse Annex on June 24. Only this time, people were angrier.

One of them was Ann Hou, who made a head-turning statement by wearing chains of metal clothes hangers, all hooked to each other with strings of red twine, red wool, and deflated red balloons dangling from them. Hou and the other SLO residents gathered to mourn the overturning of Roe v. Wade carried out by the Supreme Court a few hours prior.

"I did this because women will die," Hou told New Times while gesturing at the hangers that symbolize dangerous abortions and inequality. "The rich women will travel and get the health care they need. Our reproductive organs are not the property of the United States government."

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• Photo By Bulbul Rajagopal
• CROWD COVER Local politicians like Bruce Gibson, Andy Pease, Jeff Lee, and Dawn Ortiz-Legg were among the hundreds of SLO residents gathered to mourn the Roe v. Wade overturn.

A month and a half ago, SLO residents gathered at the same spot to rally for reproductive rights when news broke of the leaked draft opinion written by Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. It stated that the majority of the court not only wanted to repeal the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that assured federal protection of abortion rights, but also the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling that maintained the right.

On June 24, the conservative majority of the Supreme Court revoked that right, and transferred the authority to regulate abortion to the states. For Californians, the next possible solution is to vote on a ballot measure in November that would amend the state constitution so that abortion services and the right to choose are protected. Although the state does have laws protecting abortion rights, state Sen. John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) said, enshrining these protections in the California Constitution would shield them from further encroachment.

"It actually was codified earlier. When I was in the Assembly 15 years ago, there was a threat on Roe v. Wade from the George Bush administration in the Supreme Court," Laird told New Times. "The law that was in place in California was signed by Ronald Reagan 30 years ago and was very outmoded. Then-Sen. Sheila Kuehl introduced a bill [2002 Reproductive Privacy Act] that would codify a modern abortion law in California code. We did that. But putting it in the constitution is an even stronger statement."

Legislators met the June 30 deadline to qualify the constitutional amendment for the Nov. 8 general election ballot, after it received state Senate and Assembly approval this month.

"I think the reason that it was never done before was there was a view that passing the statute that protected reproductive rights was enough. But given the court's attack on privacy rights, that elevated the belief that it needed to be in the constitution," Laird said.

But SLO officials expressed worry in front of the courthouse on June 24 that local voters might not step up to cast their ballots in November. Both SLO city Mayor Erica Stewart and Morro Bay City Councilmember Dawn Addis, the 30th District Assembly race frontrunner, encouraged the crowd to vote in every election that comes their way.

"Just a couple of weeks ago, we had a primary. In this county, 35 percent came to vote. This is not OK," Stewart announced at the rally.

Others attendees like Hannah Gibbs, a nurse, felt that the medical industry could also do more.

"Being a health care worker, that's been a conversation for weeks and weeks about what that was going to look like for us going forward. Our hospital is not the most transparent about stuff like that," Gibbs said. "There is a lack of education not only about women's health at the hospital, and what it provides and doesn't provide, but also on human rights, trans rights, and gay rights. I get that it's hard to adapt to that change very quickly, but I think that there's more that my hospital could be doing."