截止上周六（6月23日）美国最高法院颁布多布斯裁决（Dobbs）整整一周年了，该裁决取消了妇女对堕胎和其他与生殖健康相关的医疗决定的权利。在此时机，反堕胎人士在全国范围内举行了名为“生命游行”（March for Life）的示威活动，而另一方面支持堕胎的活动人士也举行了对应的抗议活动。
Saturday marked one year since the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs decision ending women’s right to an abortion or any other medical decisions relating to women’s reproductive health. Both anti-abortion extremists, “March for Life,” and Pro-Choice activists marked the day with protests nationwide.
“Since the Dobbs decision one year ago, 14 states have implemented complete abortion bans, and several others are trying to implement bans,” said a representative of Philly Democratic Socialists of America. “The criminalization of abortion and gender-affirming care are attacks on our bodily autonomy and ability to access necessary healthcare.”
“You can’t dip your toe in the pro-life era; we must double down in this post-Dobbs era,” said Mark Houck, a prominent Bucks County anti-abortionist arrested last year on federal charges for allegedly shoving a Planned Parenthood volunteer. “We aren’t done until every state enacts a ban on abortions and every baby that can be saved is saved.”
Anti-Abortion Religious extremist groups rallied for a Mass and prayer service at Basilica at the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Paul in Philadelphia at 9:30 a.m. At the same time, Pro-Choice activists were rallying outside the entrance of the Philadelphia Chinese Lantern Festival at the corner of 6th and Race Street.
Both groups marched to Philadelphia Women’s Center on Appletree Street at 10:30 a.m. Pro-Choice activists lined the Street, creating a barrier in front of the clinic, with several activists in black bloc using bikes to block access to the alley from 8th Street to prevent access to the passage by “March for Life” extremists.
As Pro-Choice activists crossed Race Street at the intersection of 7th Street, an SUV attempted to drive through the crossing activists. Activists with bicycles held off the SUV in the middle of the intersection until marchers reached the sidewalk on the other side. The vehicle’s passenger was verbally aggressive and began filming protesters to intimidate them.
Several Anti-Abortion activists had set up a small protest across the Street from the clinic early in the morning in preparation for the day’s events, but Pro-Choice activists in Black Bloc working with clinic escorts blocked the tiny extremist group relegating them to a small patch of sidewalk across the Street and cowing them into silence.
Philadelphia Police added another layer of security to the Appletree clinic, setting up bicycle rack barricades and a line of riot police to keep the two groups separated. A handful of Anti-Abortion activists tried to force their way into the alley. While one of the anti-Abortionists that had been a part of the small protest across from the clinic attempted to leave and then reenter was first rebuffed by Pro-choice activists, then escorted outside of the police line at the entrance to the alley.
When Anti-Abortionists realized they could not enter the alley in front of the clinic by force, several group members attempted to con their way in, making up conflicting excuses for why they should be allowed in. Failing again to gain access, the group continued to Independence Mall.
Several minutes later, Pro-Choice activists split into two different groups. The smaller of the two groups marched to Independence Mall to join a group of counter-protesters already there.
本报记者拍摄Photographed by Metro Chinese
“我们想找一种存在感，以显示费城是一个自由的城市，我们反对法西斯主义，”Miriam Oppenheimer说道，她是来自西费城的Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights的一名活动人士。
“We’re trying to provide a presence to show that Philadelphia is a city of freedom and we’re against fascism,” said Miriam Oppenheimer, a West Philadelphia activist with Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights.
“We must fight back against these attacks on human rights and the complacency that allows them to continue and escalate; those guys aren’t pro-life; they’re forced birthers, and they won’t stop until they have full control over women’s bodies, no matter how many die in the process.”
In recent weeks Republican presidential candidates have all said they would institute a national abortion ban, though most have skirted the issue of a six-week ban.
More than 60 percent of Americans believe abortions should be legal in all or most cases, according to recent Pew Research polling. Since the Dobbs decision polls in Red states have shown a spike in the number of people who believe abortions should be accessible.
According to Human Rights Watch, approximately 22 million women and girls of reproductive age in the U.S. now live in states where abortion access is heavily restricted and often inaccessible.
Restrictions on access to healthcare places women’s lives and health at risk, leading to increased maternal mortality and morbidity, a climate of fear among healthcare providers, and reduced access to all forms of care. Maternal mortality is three times higher for Black Women than their white non-Hispanic counterparts.
本报记者拍摄Photographed by Metro Chinese
“我们今天在这里捍卫生命的神圣性，捍卫生命始于受孕的真理，捍卫每一个生命都是重要的、被祝福的、值得尊重和需要保护的真理，”反堕胎的妇产科医生莫妮克·鲁贝鲁博士（Dr. Monique Ruberu）说。“我们不能容忍任何例外，即使是强奸和乱伦的情况也不行，这些婴儿和所有人一样弥足珍贵。”
“We’re here today to stand up for the sanctity of life, for the truth that life begins at conception and that every single life is important, is blessed, is worthy of being honored and protected,” said Dr. Monique Ruberu, a pro-life OB/GYN. “We can’t allow any exceptions, not even in the case of rape and incest; those babies are just as precious as anyone else.”
本报记者拍摄Photographed by Metro Chinese
“值得重复的是，生命从受孕开始，这是一个宗教概念，而不是科学概念，”理查德·J·保尔森（Richard J. Paulson）医学博士说。“这个概念是由宗教领袖发明的，他们有意选择解释早期发育的事件以符合他们的先入之见，并将这个教义作为事实来宣扬。”
“It is worth repeating; life begins at conception, is a religious, not scientific, concept,” said Richard J. Paulson, M.D., M.S. “The idea was made up by religious leaders, who intentionally chose to interpret the events of early development to suit their preconceived notions and started preaching this dictum as a fact it is not.”“这不仅仅是关于堕胎权利的问题，它涉及到所有生殖和性别肯定的保健，今天在广场上的同一批人下周将在万豪酒店举行的“妈妈为自由”（Moms for Liberty）会议上，”奥本海默（Oppenheimer）说。“这与生命无关，反而与控制有关，残忍是其目的。”
“This isn’t just about abortion rights; it’s about all reproductive and gender-affirming care; the same people over there on the mall today will be at the Marriott for the Moms for Liberty conference next weekend,” said Oppenheimer. “This has nothing to do with life; it’s about control, and cruelty is the point.”
The effects of abortion bans are already being felt whether it’s a ten-year-old rape victim forced to travel across stateliness, an Alabama woman forced to endure miscarriages without any help from their doctors because they could be imprisoned for up to 99 years, or Central Texas, a hospital that instructed doctors not to treat a woman with an ectopic pregnancy until a life-threatening fallopian tube rupture occurred. Last year a woman was charged with murder for a “self-induced abortion” after a miscarriage; 15 percent of pregnancies end in miscarriage.
Abortions are still legal in Pennsylvania. In Philadelphia, the city council passed a bill package last year that defends abortion access and protects patients and their caregivers 15 to 1. Republican Mayoral Candidate David Oh was the lone no-vote.
