Hundreds Of Chicagoans Expected To Stand Up For Abortion Rights At Friday Rally

By Mae Rice in News on Feb 9, 2017 5:59PM

Photo: Tyler LaRiviere

Chicago residents "overwhelmingly support legal abortion," according to the organizers of the Rally for Reproductive Justice. On Friday evening, hundreds if not thousands of Chicagoans will rally at the James R. Thompson Center at 5 p.m. to demonstrate that and express support for Planned Parenthood.

The rally, put on by the Chicago Camp to Expose Crisis Pregnancy Centers, will provide a counterpoint to pro-life rallies at Planned Parenthoods across the country on Saturday. To that end, Friday's rally will show support for abortion rights, the legality of which feels increasingly under siege with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence (remember all the wild stuff Pence did as Indiana's governor?) in the White House.

"We're holding this rally to defend the rights we already have, and to demand their protection and expansion," the event description reads.

In an email statement, the organizers described the event's full mission as follows:

We will gather outside the Thompson Center to appeal to Illinois lawmakers to protect Planned Parenthood’s funding, and to address statewide issues. We urgently need to expand Medicaid coverage for abortions beyond difficult to prove cases of rape or incest and other narrow exceptions subject to bureaucratic oversight. We must overturn discriminatory legislation that bars Illinois state employees’ health insurance from covering abortion care. We need to get rid of the so-called Trigger Law that would seek to render abortion illegal in our state if the Supreme Court undermines Roe v Wade’s precedent. And we need a state budget including fully funded public schools, support for childcare and other services working and low-income families rely on.

The event will feature an open mic, an organizer told Chicagoist, and it's slated to run until 7 p.m.

Related Stories:

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- Could An Obscure Illinois Law End Abortion Rights If Roe v. Wade Gets Overturned?