BASIN RESIDENTS PROTEST DRAFT ALITO DECISION ON ABORTION

Gathering called on one hour's notice

May 3rd protest against overturning Roe v. Wade (Photo by Cody Briggs)

30 to 40 people gathered at the corner of Highway 62 and Park on Tuesday afternoon, May 3, to protest the potential overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court. The leak of the draft opinion by Justice Samuel Alito was published by Politico late on May 2. If the opinion is made final, it would allow individual states to ban abortion as well as potentially call into question other decisions made under the right to privacy, such as gay marriage.

Organizers characterized the response as positive given the short notice which was emailed by Democrats of Morongo Basin and activist Sara Lee at 3:51pm for the 5:00pm protest. Yucca Valley resident Deborah Dunaway commented, “"I am outraged at Justice Alito's cavalier attitude toward Americans' right to privacy. This would be unacceptable, subjugating women and girls to the whims of governments that don't think we have the ability or the right to make our own decisions about our own bodies. We won't go back."