The Cville Dems had a very busy week on this front.
Last Thursday night, 6/24, we partnered with Blue Ridge Abortion Fund to present a free webinar about how an overturning of Roe would impact the Charlottesville region. BRAF Development Director Deborah Arenstein and our Bekah Saxon gave welcoming and closing remarks, and the panelists (clearly already tired and frustrated preparing for the ban) gave a great presentation.
Friday morning 6/25 the overturning of Roe was announced. By Friday afternoon, we had coordinated with NOW and Bans Off Our Bodies for a 5pm rally at the Federal Building, arranged for the media to interview Sen. Lucas for comments at 6pm (see Fish Fry coverage above), and organized a well-attended Cville Dems 11am Saturday 6/26 rally (here’s CBS19’s coverage, photos below).
As Sen. Lucas said, we are most definitely not giving up the fight (Pres. Biden came out Thursday in favor of a Senate filibuster exception for abortion rights)… but Virginia is on the edge of losing the next and deciding round of this fight. Gov. Youngkin has promised to push for an abortion ban, and if the Republicans gain seats in this November’s midterms then Dems won’t be able to stop Youngkin and his allies from outlawing abortion in Virginia too.
As we’re seeing, elections have very profound consequences.
Help the Dems organize and mobilize for November… join this fight!