Thousands participated in this year’s Women’s March on Saturday Oct. 17 at the state capital and cities across the country. Many at Washington, D.C. came with the same intentions they had during the 2017 Women’s March: to protest against Donald Trump.
Only 200,000 women came out to march in Washington, D.C. compared to 5 million that protested in the 2017 Women’s March. However, the organizers emphasized they don’t want those high numbers of participants due to the current pandemic.
Holding signs that read “Vote for your Daughter’s Future,” “If we must be Ruth-less, be ruthless,” and “Trump/Pence out now,” they now protest against the possibility of President Trump’s second term and his Supreme Court nomination, Amy Coney Barrett.
Women and their allies have negative views against the Republican’s urge to fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat on the Supreme Court. Many believe and fear Barrett will oppose access to abortions, LGBTQ anti-discrimination protections and voting rights.
During Barrett’s Senate Confirmation hearings, she acknowledged she signed two anti-abortion advertisements that called for a reversal of Roe v. Wade, a 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without excess government restriction. Barrett also declined to answer as to whether she believes that case was correctly decided.
However, this march was immensely focused on getting voters to the polls. The Women’s March organizers said that out of all eligible women voters, only 43 percent of them voted in the 2016 presidential election. Their main goal is to increase that percentage, reach out to women voters and encourage young women to possibly vote for the first time.
The organizers set up one of the largest Women-to-Women Text Bank events where participants reached out and communicated with women voters. Women’s March tweeted that 18,000 volunteers texted 5 million women over the weekend.