A lunchtime “Stop the Bans” reproductive justice rally took place in Chico Tuesday as pro-choice groups nationwide called for a “Day of Action.”
“Across the country, we are seeing a rash of extreme bans on abortion and cruel attempts at taking away reproductive freedom in an all-out assault on abortion access,” states a Facebook post promoting the Chico rally, which was organized by Women on Reproductive Defense (WORD), Women’s March Chico, Trans Empowerment Project of Northern California, and other groups.read more
Siana Sonoquie and Paul Alvarez were among about 100 Chico residents who gathered Sunday morning at the corner of 20th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway to protest white supremacist rallies in Charlottesville, Va. Sonoquie said the Chico rally was both comforting and empowering. "As a person of color, it's very scary and triggering to see groups of racist white men chanting and holding torches," she said of the white-nationalist marches in Charlottesville. A "Unite the Right" rally there on Saturday drew neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klan and others and a counter-protester was killed.