Speak Out at St. Patrick's Cathedral February 27 2022
Start: Sunday, February 27, 2022• 1:30 PM
CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS, February 27:
Stand Against the Supreme Court's Attack on Abortion Rights
Needed:
Set designers, artists, actors, ushers/marshals, testimonials, medical
professionals, students, religious leaders, English/Spanish translators,
ASL interpreters, and more.
On Sunday February 27, as Mass lets out of St. Patrick's Cathedral at 1:30 pm in NYC, a powerful Speak Out will sound the alarm against and act to STOP the Supreme Court's moves to obliterate abortion rights by late spring!
We REFUSE to Let the U.S. Supreme Court
Deny Women's Humanity and Decimate Their Rights!
ABORTION ON DEMAND AND WITHOUT APOLOGY!
This effort is initiated by RiseUp4AbortionRights.org and open to all who care about the half of humanity that is born female! The RiseUp4AbortionRights statement has been signed by Gloria Steinem, Cornel West, Rosanna Arquette, Lalah Hathaway, Sandra Cisneros, V (formerly Eve Ensler), Sunsara Taylor and hundreds of others.
>> Read it in full + add your name
On February 27, women and others will testify to bring
alive the grotesque physical, emotional, societal, and psychic violence
done to women when they are denied access to abortion and forced to have
children against their will. For example: Araceli Herrera is flying up
from Texas to tell of being denied an abortion as a teenager before
abortion was legal. She was forced to give up her studies, bear a child
produced through a brutal gang-rape, flee her family in Mexico, and
spend a lifetime toiling as a domestic worker in the shadows in the U.S.
Some participants will engage in nonviolent civil
disobedience, putting their bodies on the line to inspire others to join
in this fight.
This Speak Out is aimed at building momentum for larger mass protests in New York City
(3:00 pm Union Square) and nationwide on Tuesday March 8, International Women's Day
to declare: We REFUSE to Let the U.S. Supreme Court Deny Women's
Humanity and Decimate Their Rights! Abortion on Demand & Without
Apology!
SPREAD THIS CALL FOR VOLUNTEERS VERY WIDELY TO YOUR NETWORKS.
VOLUNTEERS are needed now to help make this Speak Out beautiful, defiant and inspiring:
BE THERE! Organize your fellow students, your religious community, medical students and professionals in white coats, and more.
TELL YOUR STORY. If you can be New York, come testify. Otherwise, send it in and it will be read by an actor or other volunteer.
ACTORS: Come read a powerful testimony. All genders welcome and encouraged!
SET DESIGNERS AND ARTISTS:
The faces of 6 women (enlarged to five feet each) who died from illegal
abortions need to be mounted and displayed powerfully, along with other
staging and imagery.
VIDEOGRAPHERS/PHOTOGRAPHERS (professional and amateurs): Help document and get this story out quickly.
SOUND TECHNICIANS
MARSHALS: Experience as ushers or marshals a plus, but not required.
PUBLICISTS
>> DONATE Tens of thousands of dollars are needed for stage, sound, permits, flyers, posters, press and more.
Further background:
The Supreme Court
is on track to gut or overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court
case that established women’s fundamental right to abortion nationwide,
by late spring of 2022. If the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, 21
states would immediately ban or severely restrict abortion. Learn more in this factsheet.
WHY SPEAK OUT outside St. Patrick's Cathedral?
**
St. Patrick's was the site of the first pro-choice civil disobedience
in 1989. Abortion provider, activist and author Merle Hoffman, who
brought a 7-ft coat hanger (symbolizing the dangerous back-alley
abortions before Roe v. Wade), will speak again at St. Patrick's on Feb
27, and we will raise the same hanger again!
** All the Supreme
Court Justices likely to uphold the restrictive Mississippi abortion ban
that would gut abortion rights are deeply informed by the anti-abortion
teachings of the Catholic Church. A “factsheet” from the US Conference
of Catholic Bishops states: "Since the first century the Church has
affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has
not changed & remains unchangeable.”
** We draw inspiration
from the women of Poland who defied the powerful right-wing alliance of
the Polish church and state in pushing for even more severe abortion
restrictions. We draw inspiration, as well, from the fierce struggle of
women fighting abortion restrictions in Mexico, Argentina, and
elsewhere.