Activists Rally for Reproductive Freedom

Source: Amherst Young Feminist Party

Activists withstood the heat and held off the thunderstorms on Saturday June 22 at The Rally for Reproductive Freedom at Northampton City Hall. The rally was organized by Alice Jenkins, a 2024 Hampshire Regional High School graduate and local organizer, as well as Amherst Young Feminist Party and Indivisible Northampton / Swing Left Western Massachusetts. The rally began with The Raging Grannies, an activist choral group. Speakers included State Representative Lindsay Sabadosa, Northampton City Councilor Debby Pastrich Klemer, Brooke Huguely, Conference Manager for Collective Power for Reproductive Justice, Freya Brody with Amherst Young Feminist Party, and Joey Pisani from Western MA 4 the Future. The rally was part of the Bigger Than Dobbs: Weekend of Action hosted by Indivisible Massachusetts, marking the two year anniversary of the Dobbs vs. Jackson’s Women’s Health Organization (2022) decision that overturned Roe vs. Wade (1973), stripping away the federal right to abortion. 

Amherst Young Feminist Party is the local chapter of Young Feminist Party, a national, youth-led, intersectional organization fighting for the enactment of the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution and widespread gender equality and bodily autonomy for all. Amherst Young Feminist Party was founded in May of 2020 by Amherst Regional High School student Marisol Pierce Bonfaz, and has grown to a base of 50+ youth activists and 20+ active members ranging in age from 13 to 26. Indivisible Northampton merged with Swing Left Massachusetts in May of 2022 to educate and mobilize voters, as well as hold elected leaders accountable in advocating for bold, progressive demands on the local, state, and federal level. 

Organizers issued the following statement:
“Our reproductive freedoms are under attack. Fifty years of Roe vs. Wade (1973) precedent has been overturned, and we’re taking one step forward and three steps back. Generation Z is demanding the rights their parents had, and ensuring that not one more generation has to fight for the fundamental human fight of bodily autonomy. The Rally for Reproductive Freedom is a representation of how people power works, and how we must continue to fight for the right to make decisions over our own bodies.” 

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Email: youngfeministpartyamherst@gmail.com