Over 1,000 marchers gathered Saturday in Southeast Portland as part of a national call-to-action against a Texas law limiting abortion access.
The Texas legislation passed in early September, giving the divided U.S. Supreme Court occasion to uphold or overrule Roe v. Wade. The Biden administration urged a federal judge to block the law Thursday, and demonstrators across the nation took to the streets Saturday to protest the legislation.
Demonstrators in Washington, D.C., for example, marched to the steps of the Supreme Court and surrounded the White House.
Portland marchers held large signs, set off pink and purple smoke signals and chanted, “They say no choice, we say pro choice,” while covering a loop that began at Revolution Hall and spanned over 1.5 miles.
Many parents brought their children to learn and take part in the movement.
“It’s just been kind of sad,” said Gaby Schwartz, 12, looking at her mother. Schwartz was taken aback by the number of people who turned out.
Her mother, Shoshanna Lansberg, is from Texas and felt it was important to bring her daughter to the march. The two currently reside in Beaverton.
“I brought my daughter here with me because she needs to see this,” Lansberg said. “See that we’re still having to fight — the same fight that we’ve been fighting for years.”
Tents for Planned Parenthood and Oregon-based community groups were scattered throughout the dog park outside Revolution Hall, and speakers discussed their experiences in the fight for abortion rights before and after the march.
Katie Jahangiri, an event organizer, was the first to speak and welcome the crowd. She noted Oregon’s reproductive care protections and drew applause for rejecting Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler’s statement about the march because it did not reference people with non-cisgender identities.
“What the mayor did was a brave erasure of everyone who this fight impacts,” Jahangiri told the crowd. “This is the PDX march for reproductive rights for all.”
Performance and visuals artist Zeloszelos Marchandt spoke to the crowd before the march. Marchandt is a Black, Indigenous, transgender and gender non-conforming artist with projects focused on the intersection of sex, gender, race and social history.
“These systems that continue to try and silence us, to silence Black and brown kids, especially our Black and brown transgender, non-conforming and queer kids,” Marchandt said. “(Our kids) deserve to be frustrated and to voice that and to let it out. And to be protected.”
Jefferson Hawkins, 75, attended the rally by himself and felt it was important to do so. Hawkins has been involved in protests since he was 18 and said he took part in many anti-war movements.
“I’m an older guy, I’m a white guy,” Hawkins said. “But I support what’s going on. I support women’s rights. I support trans rights. I support gay rights.”
Other speakers included Jennifer Lincoln, a board-certified generalist obstetrician, gynecologist and attending physician. Lincoln wore a white medical coat with “OBGYN for Abortion Access” on the back. The Portland-based doctor uses a 2.3 million-person following on TikTok to discuss reproductive health and wellness.
“There’s a lot of really good people in Texas who did not ask for this ban,” Lincoln said. “And I want them to know that we are here with them and we will continue to march to speak up, to speak out, to donate.”
-- Alexandra Skores
askores@oregonian.com; 503-221-8073; @AlexandraSkores
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Over 1,000 gather for Portland reproductive rights march: ‘The same fight we’ve been fighting for years’ - OregonLive
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