By Jacob Henry May 4, 2022
(New York Jewish Week) — Thousands of people, including Jewish groups, politicians and rabbis, turned out in Foley Square in Lower Manhattan on Tuesday to protest the news that the Supreme Court is preparing to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 49-year-old ruling that federally protects legal abortion in the United States.
The rally was quickly organized by a range of activists, politicians and community organizers, following Monday’s leaked draft opinion signaling the court’s intent to overturn Roe v. Wade, which was first reported by Politico. Many in attendance were wearing green, a color that represents a woman’s right to choose, stemming from Argentina’s fight to overturn restrictive abortion laws in 2018.
Among the Jewish groups represented were the left-leaning organizations Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, the Workers’ Circle and IfNotNow.
JFREJ activists showed up at the rally with green signs that said, partially in Hebrew, “Baruch Hashem for Abortion,” meaning “Thank God for Abortion.”
“Abortion is a Jewish value,” JFREJ Executive Director Audrey Sasson told the New York Jewish Week. “Our texts are very clear that we value life. We value the life of the mother. That’s what’s really important to us.”
She added that the attack on abortion is an attack from the “white Christian nationalist right.”
“That’s an attack on all of us: Jews, Muslims and people of all backgrounds,” she said. “This is an agenda that has been going on for decades to bully all the rest of us into submission.”