2022 Year in Review
January 8
Anti-Abortion Rally Counter-Protest
We began 2022 with Guadalupe Lupe, fourth-grade teacher and member of the Chicago Teachers Union's Women's Rights Committee, helping lead a vigorous counter-protest to anti-abortion zealots at Federal Plaza. Many thanks also to the many individuals and nearly 20 other organizations who joined us on that cold day!
January 24
49th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade Panel
We celebrated the 49th anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, while warning of the storm clouds of a biased court, with a dynamic panel of reproductive rights leaders:
Gina Rozman-Wendle of the Chicago Chapter of the National Organization for Women (Chicago NOW)
Qudsiyyah Shariyf of Chicago Abortion Fund
Abortion physician and movement leader for a half century Dr. Barbara Roberts
Derenda Hancock co-coordinator of the Pinkhouse Defenders, which defended Mississippi's only abortion clinic
Kim Varela-Broxson, a Texas-based abortion fund volunteer with the Bridge Collective and member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
The event was organized by Chicago For Abortion Rights and Haymarket Books, with more than a dozen local cosponsors. A recording of the program can be found here.
March 5
International Women's Day March
Working with local LGBTQ groups and a few dozen others, we marched on the weekend before International Women's Day in the LGBTQ neighborhood formerly known as "Boystown." Our central message was that the dire threats to reproductive rights foretold a coming wave of attacks on the rights of not just women and others who could become pregnant, but all LGBTQs, Black and Brown people, and working class people from all communities.
A film of the rallies and march, broadcast more than a dozen times on Chicago Access Network TV, can be found here.
May 1
May Day March
Working in coalition with a broad array of immigrant rights, labor and other groups, we brought the abortion and reproductive rights messages to May Day – International Workers Day – emphasizing that working class families deserve and urgently need to control our own bodies. True reproductive freedom means having the ability to decide to have or not have kids without economic pressures being the dictator of our decisions.
May 7
First Big Post-SCOTUS Leak Rally & March
Many thousands poured into the streets in response to the leak of the impending SCOTUS anti-abortion decision. On just a few days' notice, an all-volunteer crew of CFAR members organized much of the nitty gritty of the huge rally and march.
Corporate news coverage of the event can be found here.
May 14
Second Big Post-SCOTUS Leak Rally & March
Many thousands of individuals and dozens of organizations, including CFAR, participated in the second big march prompted by the SCOTUS anti-abortion leak. The highlight of the event was when the huge march greeted steadfast clinic escort volunteers doing their weekly Saturday duty preventing anti-abortion zealots from abusing people attempting to access reproductive health care at a local clinic.
A short, heartening film of the huge crowd greeting and cheering the volunteers can be found here.
June 24
SCOTUS Decision Day Rally & March
Shortly after the December 2021 SCOTUS oral arguments in the Dobbs case, CFAR began networking with other Chicago area activists to have as large and loud a protest as possible on the day SCOTUS announced its decision. Win or lose, we knew it was important to have an immediate response declaring that no court or politician had the right to control our bodies.
While we had only hours to respond on the day of the decision, months of preparation paid off in perhaps the largest turnout of any city in the nation.
June 25
Day After SCOTUS Decision Rally
Despite a rain-soaked day, we carried the pro-reproductive rights message forward the next day as well with remarks by Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton and grassroots activists.
June 26
Chicago Pride Parade
On less than 24 hours’ notice, CFAR launched a "stealth" contingent in the annual Chicago Pride Parade, eliciting a raucously enthusiastic response from the 1 million+ parade attendees, many of whom joined in our pro-abortion rights chants!
Short films of the contingent can be found here, here and here.
July 4
Families for Abortion Access Rally & March
On the holiday weekend, CFAR and several other organizations joined a large, family-friendly South Side march and rally organized by Chicago Abortion Fund and Kido.
July 9
Anti-Abortion Rally + March Counter-Protest
Anti-abortionists, who in the past have held Chicago rallies by busing in people from many miles around, tried to do so again... only to be outnumbered 2 to 1 by reproductive rights activists. We surrounded their march and had one of our own beside it!
September 2–5
CFAR Speaks at Socialism 2022 Conference
CFAR presenters Mandy Medley and Linda Loew were warmly greeted at the Socialism 2022 Conference, Chicago’s largest annual conference of the left, boasting over 2,000 participants each year.
September 28
Protesting Fundraiser for Fake Clinics
Responding to an initiative by Reproductive Transparency Now, CFARers joined a protest called on just a few days' notice against a fundraiser for "crisis pregnancy centers" (CPCs).
CPCs are fake clinics that deceptively market themselves as providing reproductive health services, but are actually ideological, anti-science zealots who lure in pregnant people and then lie to them about the relative risks of abortion vs. childbirth in an attempt to stop people from having abortions. The CPCs fundraiser was held at the uber-posh Union League Club, which implicitly belied their stated need for funds.
October 8th
Abortion Rights & Reproductive Justice Rally & March
Nearly 50 organizations and about 5,000 people hit the streets of Chicago in response to a nationwide call for reproductive rights actions. The impact of these actions in helping spur people to pass abortion rights measures and dump anti-abortion candidates in the November 2022 elections cannot be underestimated.
October 22
Supporting Abortion Referendum in Michigan
A small crew of CFARers traveled to Lansing, Michigan's state capital, to support a rally and march called by the Michigan Coalition for Reproductive Liberation. The purpose of the event was to press for passage of a referendum that would amend the state's constitution to protect people's rights to make and carry out all decisions related to pregnancy – including abortion, birth control, prenatal care, miscarriage and childbirth – without government interference.
In case you haven't heard already, we're happy to say that it and all other abortion rights initiatives around the nation PASSED!
December 4
CFAR Honored With Lucy Parsons Gonzalez Award
Linda Loew accepted the award on behalf of CFAR from the Freedom Road Socialist Organization and gave a short speech.
December 5
SCOTUS Anti-LGBTQ Bigotry Protest
CFAR proudly stood in solidarity with LGBTQ activists protesting a dangerous new SCOTUS case. Dubbed the "Straights Only" case, it seeks to ban laws that prohibit discrimination against LGBTQs in places of public accommodation. The case threatens to not only unravel much of the last few decades of LGBTQ rights progress – it also poses an implicit threat to Black and Brown people and religious minorities who traditionally have been discriminated against in places of public accommodation.
The press conference was called by the Gay Liberation Network and was also supported by the Black, women-led Affinity Community Services and the Chicago Chapter of the National Organization for Women (Chicago NOW).
A decision by the court is expected to be issued in June.
October – December
Supporting Iranian Women's Movement
In addition to our December 15 panel, "Iranian Women Show the World How to Fight for Our Freedom," CFAR activists have proudly participated in solidarity demonstrations organized by the Iranian American community in Chicago.
You can view a recording of our panel with Iranian activists Mahshid Mir, Dr. Zohreh Ghavamshahidi and Roya Karbakhsh.
