The night the overturning of Roe came down was unbearable except for the incredible range of speakers, activists, musicians, and comradery we felt at a rally TWP held the night of the decision. It empowered us to keep going and we promised important calls to action. Thank you speakers from the Economic Progress Institute, Coyote RI, The RI Democratic Women’s Caucus, The Unitarian Universals of South County, Brown University Medical Residents, RI Healthcare Access and Affordability Partnership, Party for Socialism and Liberation, Haus of Codec, Planned Parenthood Votes! Rhode Island, Women’s Fund of RI, and SHIP.
The 1500+ crowd was incredible and for the most part well mannered. An incident occurred that TWP has issued a statement about. It starts, “Last night at the Rhode Island State House, in the face of a horrific attack on our rights, local activists gathered together. Our rally’s purpose was to provide community for our people and to dispense information and action steps of how to fight back.
A small group of anti-protesters came to disrupt our event, resorting at one point to physical violence to do so. Arrests were made and charges are being filed. The rally continued, otherwise uninterrupted. We would like to state here that we are so proud and grateful for the people who actively worked to de-escalate and defuse the situation as it unfolded.” Read further.
Never-the-less we appreciate the incredible teamwork to keep the event safe and moving forward. It did empower us work with other organizations to build a plan for future events that invites more safety procedures.
Here are some images from the event. Also see UpriseRI’s coverage and video footage of the whole night.
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Two days later, as promised, we held a direct action at the RI Democratic State Committee Convention. Here we are talking about where we are and what we are doing next. Watch what House Speaker Shekarchi had to say about calling for a special session to address the Equality in Abortion Coverage Act.
The last 3 days have been exhausting and so painful but one thing is certain, people are wanting to be as active as they can to make change anywhere and everywhere. TWP has build a plan for you to get involved.
(1) calling for an executive order, join us at the State House today at 11am!
(2) Getting active around the state for 4th of July parades, and
(3) establishing more committees and engagement opportunities with TWP to call for a special session this summer. Want to learn more at our upcoming volunteer meeting?