Women fight back! The movement for reproductive freedom, LGBTQ rights and bodily autonomy has expanded rapidly all across New York State in response to the Supreme Court’s heinous decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June. Residents of the Finger Lakes and Upstate NY regions have taken up this struggle in the form of recurring mass meetings in the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls. The Historical Park, sitting on the homelands of the Cayuga Nation, is the birthplace of the struggle for women’s rights which built on the lessons of abolitionism and a history of indigenous struggle–struggles that were born out of everyday, working class people meeting en masse to dream, strategize, and build towards radical change just like today.
Many of the attendees are first-time organizers who were galvanized by the urgency of this political moment as well as by recent protests in Syracuse, Seneca Falls, Geneva, Ithaca and Auburn.
Mass meeting attendee Tara Sandlin said of the meetings, “Attending demonstrations was a great way to start participating in this struggle. The mass meetings at Seneca Falls, though, have given me a place and voice to contribute more actively to organizing efforts. It’s been inspiring to see such a wide coalition of people of all ages and genders coming together from all across central New York. At each meeting, I’ve met people who have been in the struggle for years and people at their very first action. It’s remarkable to see the energy, the willingness to think outside of the box and the focus that our working groups have toward real, actionable goals and progress.”
Each meeting, the attendees break up into working groups that strategize around four main topics: addressing the issue of crisis pregnancy centers in our region, building solidarity with frontline states and expanding access in NYS for out-of-state abortion seekers, expanding abortion access within rural New York and fighting impending attacks on LGBTQ rights in the Finger Lakes. Working groups pool knowledge of the conditions in members’ respective cities to plan protests, material support efforts, education and outreach campaigns and more with the goal of building a fighting, statewide movement to protect the reproductive and LGBTQ rights currently under attack by the Supreme Court and the far right.
Follow @geneva_womens_assembly and @psl_flx on Instagram to stay up to date on the mass meetings. In place of the typical Seneca Falls meetings, organizers are holding a rally on Friday, August 26 at 6:00 pm at the HWS Scandling Center in Geneva, NY. Anyone who dreams of a world where reproductive freedom and LGBTQ expression are fundamental rights is welcome to join in and build the movement!