Texas activists gather in Washington to protest overturning of Roe v. Wade
Texas activists are gathering in Washington on Wednesday to mark the four-year anniversary of Roe v. Wade being overturned.
More than 30 Texans are joining abortion rights advocates from around the country to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade and to call for abortion access to be reinstated throughout the country.
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned the legal precedent established in Roe v. Wade, allowing individual states to regulate or restrict access to abortion. In Texas, almost all abortions are illegal. The Texas law has no exceptions for pregnancies that result from either rape or incest. The law includes an exception for when a pregnant woman’s life is in danger, but physicians and lawyers have said the language is vague and could be interpreted differently by different doctors and hospitals.
Last year, the Texas Legislature passed the Life of the Mother Act, which updated the abortion law’s medical exceptions. The Texas Medical Board created a new training instructing doctors when they can legally provide abortions.
Among the Texas activists who gathered in D.C. was Fort Worth resident Joana Calderon, who got an abortion in 2017. At the time, Texas law required Calderon to receive a transvaginal ultrasound and wait 24 hours before receiving the abortion. Calderon had to wait two weeks after learning she was pregnant before she could get the abortion, she said. Calderon received the abortion care at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Fort Worth.
“I was very grateful and privileged to have access to care that was about 15 minutes away from me,” she said.
On Wednesday, Calderon met with a staffer of U.S. Rep. Craig Goldman, a Republican.
“Everyone loves someone who’s had an abortion,” Calderon said. “But maybe they don’t even know that their loved one has had an abortion, because oftentimes people are forced to keep that secret because of the stigma.”
Calderon was joined in D.C. by Amanda Zurawski, who sued the state of Texas after she was denied an abortion and went into septic shock and nearly died.
The Texas coalition was part of a group of 150 activists from throughout the country who gathered with the pro-abortion group Free & Just to meet with lawmakers.
