LA Protesters March For Women's Health

Published Oct 4, 2021 12:56 PM

A person wearing knee-length denim shorts, a black fanny pack and a black t-shirt is shown from the waist down, standing on a city street in the middle of a crowd. Two coat hangers hand from her fanny pack, both wrapped in dark pink paper. One reads "hashtag no ban" in white capital letters. The second reads "warning this is not a surgical instrument" in white capital letters.

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Protesters gathered in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday to march for reproductive justice and women's health.

Organized by the Women's March Foundation and held in cities across the country, the march was in response to a highly restrictive law recently enacted in Texas that very nearly bans access to abortion, with no exceptions for rape or incest.

L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell spoke at the event, reminding the crowd that the issue hits close to home for all five members of the Board of Supervisors: "[We are] arguably the most powerful elected body in this country," she said. "We each represent two million Angelenos, and we all have a uterus."

Actor Patricia Arquette said that the law demonstrated a concerted effort to discriminate against women: "American women are still under siege as we watch states like Texas pass laws limiting abortion access, and other states join with this anti-abortion legal extremism."

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“American women are still under siege, as we watch states like Texas, pass laws, limiting abortion access, and other states join with this anti abortion legal extremism.” @PattyArquette #MarchForReproductiveRights pic.twitter.com/3DtxaYkiFL
— Women's March Foundation (@wmnsmarchla) October 3, 2021

The march began at 10 a.m. at Pershing Square, then followed a route to City Hall.

Activists also gathered on Saturday in Washington DC, Massachusetts, Maryland, Illinois, Alaska and many other places around the country.

A red, rectangular cardboard sign is held above the heads of a crowd. The sign has images of ten Republican politicians, including George H. W. Bush and Ted Cruz, and the words American Taliban are written in black upper-case letters across the top of the sign. Palm trees appear in the background to the right, and to the left is a multi-story city building.

A person standing on a city street holds a black sign with the words "my body my choice, we won't go back" written across it. The sign is held horizontally, and the words "my body my choice" are written in pink on a white background in all capital letters. Each word takes up one line. The words "we won't go back" are at the bottom, in white against a pink background.

A person standing near a crowd on a city street holds a white sign horizontally. Across the top of the sign, the words "Republican Logic" are written in black capital letters. Beneath those words on the left, the words "My body My choice are written in black capital letters above a drawing of a face mask. On the right, the words "Your body my choice" are written in black capital letters above a drawing of the female reproductive system.

A person standing in a crowd outside a city building holds a white, rectangular sign that reads: "thou shalt not mess with woman's rights -fallopians 1:22". the sign is written in all lower case, and the words are green, pink, blue, and purple. The sign is being held up vertically. To the right, a person wearing a wide-brimmed tan hat, denim shorts and a navy t-shirt is shown from behind.

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A person holds a black rectangular sign with the Spanish words "Es Mío Yo Decidio" in capital letters. The word mío is highlighted in red, and the word decidio has diagonal rainbow-colored stripes. The woman wears a yellow shirt and a green face mask. Her face is not visible at the top of the picture.

A person holds a vertical white sign with the words: "You're pro-life until the baby is poor transgender black mexican asian gay immigrant disabled etc." Each word, beginning with "poor," takes up its own line. The words are written in black capital letters, and the person holding the sign wears navy shorts and is visible from the waist down. They are standing in front of a white iron fence and a low green shrub with small orange flowers.

A person standing in a crowd on a city street holds a black sign with the words "this is me ovary-acting!" written horizontally. The words are red and all capital letters, on a white background. "This is me" takes up one line, "ovary-" takes up the next, and "acting" takes up the third. The person wears a white N95 face mask and holds a beverage cup in their left hand.