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Large crowds of demonstrators gathered at emotional rallies across the San Francisco Bay Area on Friday evening to express outrage over the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, ending nearly 50 years of national abortion rights.
At a rally at San Francisco City Hall, speakers blasted the ruling, saying women will die in Republican-led states where the procedure will soon be banned.
“Today’s decision means that are going to be forced to give birth,” said Kimberly Ellis, director for the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women. “Today’s decision means that a lot of women are going to suffer. Today’s decision means that a lot of women are going to die. So what that means for us … is that’s it time to fight or die.”
Kimberly Ellis, director of the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women, speaks to a crowd of protesters on Friday, June 24, at the Civic Center during a Planned Parenthood rally in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
Protesters hold signs and listen to speakers during a rally at the Philip Burton Federal Building, in San Francisco, on Friday, June 24, in response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade earlier in the day.
Amy Graff/SFGATEAt another San Francisco rally near the city’s federal building, Honey Mahogany, a candidate for District 6 supervisor, told the crowd, “I don’t know about you but I’m pissed off.”
“I don’t know why we have to keep doing this, every other day we have another tragedy, every other day we have to fight for a new right that is being taken from us and we will not stand for it,” she said. “Republicans have been working for decades — decades — to get to today. They have been stacking our courts, they have putting forward more and more conservative right-wing nut-job candidates at every level of government. We will not stand for it.”
The two groups of San Francisco rally-goers ended up meeting together on Market Street where a Burger King used to be. Some staged a sit-in at the intersection of 8th and Market.
Protesters stage a sit-in at the intersection of 8th and Market Street, in downtown San Francisco, on Friday, June 24, in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATEMeanwhile, at Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in Oakland, protesters trashed the Supreme Court ruling, too.
“These are not Reagan Republicans,” an Oakland resident named Irene said of the current crop of Republican leaders. “These are fascists. These are fascists coming to our land.”
In addition, demonstrators could be heard chanting, “I will not I will not be controlled, I am sovereign in my body, I am sovereign in my soul.” When the crowd marched down 14th Street to the Alameda County courthouse, people on bikes and electric scooters stopped traffic to let the group move through.
People gather in Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in Oakland on Friday, June 24, in protest of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Ariana Bindman/SFGATEShannon Olivieri Hovis, the director of NARAL Pro-Choice California, told SFGATE she believes that it’s important for people in California to protest — even if they’re not directly impacted by the Supreme Court ruling.
“The first and foremost is be as loud as possible, make more noise on this issue than you have ever made,” Hovis said. “And that actually starts with joining us this evening, at rallies and protests all across the country.”
As activists took to the streets on Friday, many Bay Area companies decried the decision by releasing statements saying they will cover the cost of travel for employees seeking abortions. See a list of those companies on SFGATE.
Find a list of upcoming protests on SFGATE.
Protesters hold signs during a rally at the Philip Burton Federal Building, in San Francisco, on Friday, June 24, in response to the Supreme Court overturning Roe vs. Wade earlier in the day.
Amy Graff/SFGATE
Protestors hold a sign at the San Francisco Civic Center in protest of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
Protestors hold signs and rally in Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland on Friday, June 24, in response to the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe vs. Wade.
Ariana Bindman/SFGATE
Protestors march in downtown Oakland chanting “We are ready to fight, abortion is a human right,” on Friday, June 24, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Ariana Bindman/SFGATE
Protesters prepare a sit-in at the intersection of 8th and Market Street, for 49 minutes – the number of years Row vs. Wade was in existence – during widespread protests in downtown San Francisco, on Friday, June 24, in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the longstanding precedent legalizing abortion in America.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
The Nasty Women band rehearses at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland on Friday, June 24, ahead of a march in protest of the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe vs. Wade.
Ariana Bindman/SFGATE
Protesters stage a sit-in at the intersection of 8th and Market Street, in downtown San Francisco, on Friday, June 24, in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
Protesters march in downtown San Francisco, on Friday, June 24, in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATE
Protesters march in downtown San Francisco, on Friday, June 24, in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade.
Douglas Zimmerman/SFGATEYou can also email photos from protests to charles.russo@sfgate.com.
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