Protesters at an abortion rights rally Bridgeport, New Haven and other cities across Connecticut said they’re heartbroken, but committed to fighting after the Supreme Court decision Friday overturning the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case legalizing abortions nationwide.
Among hundreds of people who marched and chanted in downtown New Haven, Deb Risisky, a professor of public health at Southern Connecticut State University, said the protest is an important way for them to get over their initial shock, but she said afterwards, they need to get to work.
“Thinking about how we can help people come into our state to get health care, especially those who are underprivileged," Risisky said. "We need to work with other states and agencies on the ground to figure out how do we get women in need here safely, economically and get them the medical care they need and return them back home.”
A group of local abortion rights activists rallied in front of the U.S District Court in Bridgeport. Dozens of protestors formed a circle in front of the federal courthouse, chanting: “Rage, rage against the dying of our rights.”
Gemeem Davis, an organizer with Bridgeport Generation Now, said the high court’s ruling has reignited the women’s movement that started when Donald Trump was elected president in 2016.
“Women said we are going to fight and we did that," she said. "We made Trump a one-term president. And we did that."
"We need to continue that fight and I think that a decision like today’s decision can help to galvanize folks and remind them that it is not just the presidential election that is important.”
Protestors said they are prepared to help in midterm election campaigns in states that have banned abortions.
Meanwhile, Governor Ned Lamont said Connecticut will be a safe haven for women in more than a dozen states that plan to ban abortion.
