A large crowd gathered in downtown San Antonio Sunday for a ‘Women’s Wave’ rally and march.
The march was part of a national movement uniting in protest against attacks on reproductive rights ahead of the November midterm elections.
Sofia Sepulveda, one of the local organizers of the march, said the message is loud and clear.
"We are here to make a statement, and the statement is you shouldn't play with people's healthcare when it comes to bodies," she said
Texas’ so-called “trigger law” went into effect in August, giving the anti-abortion movement and Republican lawmakers a long-sought victory made possible by the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling overturning 1973’s Roe V. Wade decision. The ruling returned the question of access to abortion to the states.
Texas laws already made getting a legal abortion close to impossible. They include 2021’s Senate Bill 8 — which bans the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy — and a 1925 law that opens abortion providers up to civil penalties and lawsuits which was resurrected by the Texas Supreme Court.
Marcher Nancy Hiatt held a large sign addressing reproductive rights in Texas. "I think you should have rights to an abortion up to a certain period of time, maybe 16-18 weeks."
Organizers of the event say they expect women will be a decisive voting block in the 2022 midterm elections.
The Texas Newsroom’s Joseph Leahy contributed to this report.