Protesters rally in Santa Rosa against possible anti-abortion court decision

Pro-choice Sonoma County residents joined others nationwide on Tuesday to demonstrate their objections to a leaked draft of a possible U.S. Supreme Court decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion.

The 5 p.m. rally of about 150 people at Santa Rosa’s Courthouse Square consisted of people holding up homemade and printed signs with messages like “If abortion access disappears, women will die” and “Listen!! My Body, My Choice” as drivers going on 3rd Street honked in support.

Protesters shouted “Woo woo!” back, as dogs barked and Sonoma County Democratic Club member Peter Schurch, 69, of Sebastopol, tooted on his tuba. There was also chanting: “My Body! — My Choice!”

But despite the party atmosphere, organizer Sabra Briere said the protest underlined “a mix of anger and despair” among local pro-choice supporters after they heard about the draft opinion.

“Every single court has said that decisions … made by the Supreme Court in the past were fixed law. Every recent nominee has said that they would support the constitutional principle that Roe v. Wade was established law,” she said. “People who want to make a decision for themselves are feeling betrayed.”

Another rally was also held at the same time in downtown Sebastopol, sponsored by the National Organization for Women Sonoma County. Various local and national groups spread the word Tuesday about the planned gatherings, including Move-on and Swing-Left.

Briere said she “was arguing that abortion should be a health decision even before it became law in 1973.”

Asked what drew her to the protest, Marisa DeJoseph, 66, also a member of the Sonoma County Democratic club and a Santa Rosa City Schools teacher, said “The fanatic religious right is trying to tell people what to do with their bodies. … The Republicans are using this as propaganda. … They think they can get away with bullying women, but men are just as supportive of reproduction rights. This (possible decision) is setting us back as if we’re a Third World country.”

Lauren Colombo, 32, said she came to the protest “to defend women’s rights from the Supreme Court. I didn’t think that was necessary.”

Colombo and her friend, Randi House, 33, both of Santa Rosa, said they were a little surprised to hear of the draft ruling.

“I thought they would be a little less obviously evil,” House said. Added Colombo, “I thought the Supreme Court would be a little less obvious in their partisanship. Perhaps we should be able to vote them out.”

Kelsey Berro, 34, of Santa Rosa, with the North Bay Organizing Project’s Deep Democracy Team, said she and others from the group wanted to “show support for people who are actually experiencing limits on their rights in redder states.”

Wearing a T-shirt that said “Mine,” with an arrow pointing down to her belly, Berro said “We will never ever go back to a world where people have to have babies if they don’t want to.”

At Tuesday’s rally, Indivisible Sonoma County and other groups were answering the call of regional and national organizations “to do something right away,” Indivisible Sonoma County founding member Briere said.

“We will be taking names, looking for people who are ready to use the energy they have found in themselves over this to take positive action,” she said. “We’re not looking for money or to commit to a life change. We will ask them to change Washington, change Sacramento, change what’s going on in Nevada, Kentucky and North Carolina. I want us to embrace the idea that we are the democracy that we say we are, that we respect the rights we claim we have.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kathleen Coates at kathleen.coates@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5209.