Leaked SCOTUS Document Has Boston Advocates On Both Sides Sounding A Rally Cry
BOSTON (CBS) - Pro-abortion rights advocates rallied on the steps of the Massachusetts State House Tuesday night in loud protest. The crowd gathered a few hours after local political leaders stood in the same spot, vowing to protect rights at the local level.
"Our city is no stranger to fighting for our freedom," said Boston Mayor Michelle Wu. "We have always been a beacon for the rest of the country, and that is our responsibility today now more than ever." Her speech was prompted by Politico's report on a leaked legal draft in which Supreme Court Justices positioned themselves to reverse the historic Roe versus Wade ruling preserving abortion rights.
Outside the Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts League clinic on Commonwealth Avenue, a Boston University student hung posters urging people to protect women's rights. The President of the League, Dr. Jennifer Childs-Roshak, said she's ready for an influx of patients from other states where abortion laws could quickly change. "We're always able to increase our capacity," she said. "We will never turn folks away."
"While we were sort of anticipating that another shoe would drop on this, we didn't anticipate that justice Alito would take a shoe and throw it into the face of women and men throughout this country and take away these rights," said Carol Rose, Executive Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts.
But the director of the Massachusetts Catholic Action League, CJ Doyle, said if the draft becomes law, it would support the church's longstanding position against abortion.
"Sixty-three million children have died since January of 1973 and I think that's an atrocity," he said. "If Roe is overturned, I think you'll see a decline in the numbers, but legal abortions will continue in the United States and you'll probably have at least hundreds of thousands of children die each year."