As the country waits for the Supreme Court to reveal its final decision on Roe v. Wade, McNair Academic High School students will lead a pro-choice rally in front of Jersey City City Hall Sunday.
The event, which is expected to include Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop and other elected officials, was organized in response to the leak of a draft U.S. Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade that would leave it to the states to decide the legality of abortion.
“I feel like there was always a thought back in my mind that it was inevitable, it just kind of came as a shock,” rally organizer Aleyna Kilic, a 17-year-old junior, told The Jersey Journal. “We are trying to encourage people to donate to access funds, email legislators, just any way they can get involved.
“It is more (to help) people in states like Texas, Mississippi and Ohio who are getting extreme bans (on abortion).”
Kilic said several friends of hers have helped her create signs, fliers and other ways to get out the word about the event, which will include speakers from Planned Parenthood, a nonprofit organization that provides reproductive health care. The demonstration is scheduled for 2 p.m. City Hall is located at 280 Grove St.
This is the second pro-choice rally led by the McNair Academic High School students. Kilic and her friends hosted an abortion rally at city hall in October.
She said other possible speakers include representatives of Hudson Pride Center, the New Jersey Abortion Access Fund, Jersey City Housing Authority Executive Director Vivian Brady-Phillips and City Council President Joyce Watterman.
In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law in January preserving the legal right to obtain an abortion in the state. Murphy signed the bill fearful the nation’s highest court would strike down the 1973 decision that made abortion legal at the federal level.
“Just because the Supreme Court (decides) something doesn’t mean legislators can’t do anything about it,” said Kilic, an intern for Councilman-at-large Daniel Rivera. “So, if the Supreme Court does overturn Roe v. Wade, Congress could codify it just like New Jersey, New York and seven other states have.”