Chicago Women’s Marchers Protest Early This Year in Time for Midterms

Hundreds of protestors gathered at Federal Plaza in downtown Chicago Oct. 8 to advocate for reproductive rights. The event was in solidarity with the Women’s Wave, a nationwide day of action intended to rally supporters of abortion rights in advance of the Nov. 8 midterm elections, according to a press release from the Women’s March organization.

This year, the focus was on reproductive rights after the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade, and supporting the ongoing human rights protests in Iran. Comparatively, the 2021 Women’s March in January was in preparation for the possible loss of reproductive rights with the Supreme Court beginning to consider Roe v. Wade at that time.

The Chicago Women’s March is part of a national campaign that originated in 2017 as a reaction to the election of Donald Trump. Since then, subsequent marches have taken place in January of each year, focusing on a multitude of causes including supporting women of every race, gender expression and background, according to the Women’s March’s website.

Alicia Hurtado, communications and advocacy manager for the Chicago Abortion Fund and main organizer present during the march, led several chants while the crowd gathered at Federal Plaza.

“We need to make sure that our values are loud and clear,” Hurtado said to the crowd. “Everyone repeat after me: Everyone deserves bodily autonomy. Everyone deserves bodily autonomy. Exactly. And everyone is worthy of making their own decisions on if and when they choose to raise their families and the ways that they choose to express their authentic selves.”

Hurtado also spoke about current conservative efforts to restrict abortion access and encouraged them to vote.

“We know that the right-wing, Christian, fascist, minority is not going to stop at abortion care,” Hurtado said. “They are employing every tactic they can to take power over our bodies, over our families and over our livelihoods.”

Martese Chism, who also spoke before the march, was a registered nurse with National Nurses United for more than 30 years. She said her great-grandmother was also an activist who fought for civil rights and Chism now advocates for reproductive rights while also raising awareness for the disproportionate effect anti-abortion laws have on women of color.

“I understand that reproduction and abortion are essential healthcare and fundamental rights of every human being,” Chism said. “Healthcare is a human right, reproduction is a human right, and it should not belong to only those with means or in certain states.”

There were some minor disputes among lead organizers and police during the march. Numerous police officers were present on bicycles and in cars to block off streets and oncoming traffic ahead of the march to give them an unobstructed path through the city.

Lieutenant Michael Neckermann of the Chicago Police Department was one of the officers involved with the march as it moved through downtown. Once the crowd arrived at the end of the march, the mass amount of people was too large to fit on the sidewalk, so people spilled over onto the street, blocking some traffic.

In an apparent effort to move the crowd further off the street, Neckermann repeatedly unplugged the microphone that Hurtado held from its speaker. Other protest organizers tried to plug the microphone back in as Hurtado repeated an anti-police chant with their microphone cutting in and out.

In addition to the abortion-rights protestors, another crowd of demonstrators was present, supporting ongoing human rights protests in Iran. Many in this group held signs of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old Iranian woman who spurred ongoing protests after her death in custody of the country’s so-called morality police.

Sarama Daddar went to the march to protest in solidarity with Iran and was impressed by the march’s size and volume.

“At the same time, I’d like to highlight what’s going on in Iran,” Daddar said to The Phoenix. “We have a repressive regime and people are uprising there for democracy, human rights and a secular republic. And we’re against theocracy in Iran. We do not have political freedom. We have a lot of political prisoners, and repression and executions and tortures happen almost every day.”

Sarbin Haghighi also thought the march was sizable, but she also acknowledged the two groups combined may have contributed to this impression. Beyond that, Haghighi was happy to see so many people protesting for Amini.

“Hopefully we can raise awareness, you know, for those who don’t know what’s going on,” Haghighi said. “Just look for her name and just spell out ‘Mahsa Amini’ and see who she is and who she was and what she’s done and why we’re protesting. Then I think we’ve done our job.”

The two groups of activists each employed a separate array of chants that did not overlap while also frequently shouting over one another. Once the march reached its destination at the riverfront, those protesting for abortion rights and those protesting for Iranian rights split into two crowds with distinct leaders. Despite this, Haghighi feels the two causes are still innately similar.

“Well I think at the end of the day we’re talking about the same thing,” Haghighi said. “Might be different messaging but at the end of the day it’s about women’s rights in any country, you know?”

At Loyola, students show political activism through campus groups and activities like Students for Reproductive Justice’s “Free Condom Friday” or Loyola for Life’s distribution of crisis pregnancy center pamphlets.

Senior Emily Fess is the president of Loyola for Life which is Loyola’s primary anti-abortion campus organization. Loyola for Life didn’t attend the march or make any announcements concerning the march, however, they will attend the March for Life in Washington D.C. in January.

“Loyola for Life does not support the women’s march exactly, we support women and we support all life equally,” Fess, an anthropology major, said. “We do not, however, support abortion and a big part of the march is women advocating for abortion. So although we do support and love women, our views just do not align with the march specifically for that reason.”

Aisha Moten is the president of Feminist Forum, Loyola’s primary pro-choice campus organization. Moten did not attend and declined to comment on the march.

Featured image by Holden Green | The Phoenix