Jada Urbaez, Staff

Header Image: Jasmine Rivera

This past Saturday, Oct. 2, the nation unified and marched for women’s reproductive rights as thousands gathered in cities around the United States. Some major participating cities included New York, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Honolulu. The first nationwide Women’s March took place in 2017, but this year was extra unique due to the recent controversial abortion ban in Texas. The Texan government prohibits access to abortion procedures once a heartbeat can be detected in a fetus, which can be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. This law was enacted on Sept. 1, 2021, causing major distress amongst Texan women and women across the country. 

Great passion was once again brought to this year’s Women’s March, with artistic signs reading “My Body, My Choice,” “We Are Not Ovary-Acting,” and other creative phrases to express the importance of reproductive rights. The Philadelphia march in particular began at 12 noon Saturday Oct. 2, beginning from Philadelphia’s Museum of Art to  City Hall, a brisk-thirty minute walk, a distance of 1.2 miles. 

A Rutgers University student, Jasmine Rivera, tells of her experience at this year’s Women’s March, stating “Every woman should be included in this fight- transwomen, Asian, Hispanic, Black and every other racial group”. Rivera recalls feeling a sense of racial divide amongst the participants at Philadelphia’s 2021 Women’s March, saying she hopes it changes and that all people can unify for the cause of women’s rights. Rivera shares the sentiments of many women, not only those who marched in Philadelphia the past weekend, but across the U.S.