Women’s Rights Rally in Peekskill Mirrors National Protests
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More than 100 demonstrators gathered in Peekskill late Wednesday afternoon to protest the draft decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that would strike down the landmark Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion nearly a half-century ago.
The draft decision was leaked to POLITICO on Monday and has galvanized protests nationwide.
Several local and regional organizations were represented at the protest including the Westchester Working Families Party, Hudson Valley Demands New York Health, Progressive Women of NY, WESPAC, Yorktown Indivisible, and CD17 Indivisible. They gathered outside the Peekskill City Court and marched five blocks to U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer’s local office on Park Street.
“I’m afraid of not being able to make my own decisions about my body and I’m willing to fight for women to be empowered,” said Jadeen Mercado, 22, of Yorktown.
Peekskill resident Michelle Keller, a Peekskill Democratic district leader, said striking down Roe v. Wade would not just be about the loss of women’s reproductive rights but infringe on healthcare and family planning.
“My daughter and generations to come will be impacted by overturning Roe,” Keller said. “We can’t expect them to have less healthcare. If we fought to get here, we’re not going to stop now.”
Keller stood next to Yorktown resident Kent Patterson who held a sign saying “Thou Shalt Not Mess With Women’s Rights.” Patterson said abortion must remain legal.
“Taking away this right is very wrong,” he said.
The draft decision, written by Justice Samuel Alito, revealed a 5-4 vote in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade. Legal scholars have cautioned that draft opinions are subject to change and have in the past.
The Supreme Court’s hearing of the case stems from a 2018 suit in Mississippi where the Jackson Women’s Health Organization sued the state’s Department of Health to prevent enforcement of a law that prohibits nearly all abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
On Wednesday, standing with the crowd in downtown Peekskill was Ossining Town Supervisor Dana Levenberg, a Democratic candidate for the 95th Assembly District seat. Levenberg said she was impressed with the turnout.
“New York State has had the right idea on abortion and a woman’s right to choose,” Levenberg said. “But this is also a cry for the Democrats on a national level to step up and address these issues in the mid-term elections.”
Gray clouds parted and the sun started to shine as the crowd walked up Main Street chanting “Tell me what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like.”
Former Peekskill councilwoman Vanessa Agudelo, who is also running for the same Assembly seat, spoke to the crowd in front of Schumer’s office.
“I am saddened and shocked that this is happening,” she said of the draft opinion. “We have to stop the Supreme Court from disempowering women. We are out here fighting for our lives.”
Jeff Mikkelson spoke on behalf of the New York Health Campaign, which supports safe, legal, and free abortions on demand. With about a month remaining in the Assembly’s and state Senate’s 2022 session, Mikkelson urged protestors to demand that their state representatives vote for the New York Health Act, which provides universal health coverage for every New Yorker, including reproductive care.
Yorktown Indivisible member Katie Schmidt Feder said she was angry at those working to take away the right to legal abortions, a right that has been long fought for.
“If women were forced to have children they couldn’t afford, the GOP has never supported subsidies to help those women or children,” Feder said. “These rights cannot be taken away.”
Abby Luby is a writer and journalist living in the Hudson Valley. She currently writes for The Examiner and has written for The New York Daily News, SolveClimateNews, The Villager, The Real Deal, and the Record Review (www.abbyluby.com). Her feature writing on food and on the arts has been published in Hook Magazine, Valley Table Magazine, Edible Hudson Valley, Roll Magazine, Living@HomeCT, the Poughkeepsie Journal, The Stamford Advocate/Greenwich Time. Luby began writing creative non-fiction and poetry eight years ago. Her published short stories appear in the literary journals Parhelion and Persimmon Tree.
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