'Wakeup call': More than 200 rally for abortion rights after leak of SCOTUS opinion

More than 200 people gathered outdoors on a cold, rainy, windswept Saturday afternoon in Fair Lawn to rally against the leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn federal abortion rights if it is issued, which is expected next month.

Huddled under a pavilion near the borough's Memorial Pool, lawmakers and civil rights activists urged the crowd to continue to voice dissent over the next several weeks at the draft opinion, written by Justice Samuel Alito, and vote for candidates this November who support upholding the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which protected the right to abortion nationwide.

"This is a wakeup call the likes of which my generation has never seen — a wakeup call we were promised we'd never see," said Cristina Cutrone, Fair Lawn's deputy mayor. "But nothing is promised. We can never take our rights, our freedoms and our liberties for granted."

Among the speakers was Andrea Jimenez, a Rutgers University student who told the gathering that she had an abortion when she was 19 with "$120 to my name," while in a "toxic and abusive relationship" with the father.

"I was not fit to raise a child, especially with my then-partner," she said.

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"I'm thankful every day that I made the choices I did but that I also have the option to make those choices," she said.

The event drew several Democratic political leaders, including county Commissioner Tracy Zur, who helped organize the rally, and U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer.

A lone counterprotester tried to disrupt the rally by shouting through a megaphone. He was confronted by a few people attending the rally and then was moved several dozen feet away by police to avoid conflict.

The rally in Fair Lawn was one of several that have been held since Monday, May 2, when the news site Politico published Alito's leaked draft of a ruling that would overturn Roe v. Wade.

The Supreme Court has said the draft is authentic, but that it does not represent a final decision by the court or the final position of any justice.

A decision is expected to be handed down by late June. Several state legislatures are already planning to make abortion illegal if Roe is overturned. Abortion would still be legal in New Jersey, because Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law called the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act earlier this year codifying the elements of the Roe decision into state law.

At the rally in Fair Lawn, several attendees said they support the Women’s Health Protection Act, a federal bill that would enshrine abortion rights in federal law. It passed the House last year but failed to get enough votes in the evenly divided Senate.

Lil Corcoran, executive director of the Women's Rights Information Center in Englewood, told the crowd about underground abortions before Roe, including one in which a young woman died trying to abort her own fetus.

"We need to find some common ground, but you know what, the common ground is women need to live," she said.

Scott Fallon has covered the COVID-19 pandemic since its onset in March 2020. To get unlimited access to the latest news about the pandemic's impact on New Jersey, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: fallon@northjersey.com

Twitter: @newsfallon

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Fair Lawn NJ abortion rights rally draws 200-plus in rain