UUs Join Protest of SCOTUS Ruling Overturning Roe v. Wade, General Assembly 2022

Unitarian Universalists at General Assembly in Portland, OR, joined a protest of the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.

We're grateful to Leo of First UU in Austin, TX, for this video of Unitarian Universalist Association President Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray speaking at yesterday's rally in Portland, OR, in support of abortion access.

Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray: “Abortion is healthcare. We will not be silent. We will break the law. We will win.”

The rally continues—more video from Side with Love.

Video Transcript

I’m Susan Frederick-Gray, I’m president of the denomination, the Unitarian Universalist Association. A lot of us are here in the Side with Love gold shirts and stoles. We have been committed to reproductive justice and the right to abortion for decades. And before Roe, before Roe protected our right to abortion, Unitarian Universalists were partnering with other faith communities to help women access safe abortions and we are going right back to that work as faith communities.

[CROWD APPLAUSE AND CHEERING]

I am furious! [CROWD CHEERS] I’m filled with holy fury at the way that our lives and our rights are being taken away. Women’s rights, trans people’s lives and healthcare. BIPOC communities’ lives and freedom. We are in this struggle in solidarity. There are more of us than are of them. [CROWD CHEERS]

And when we come together, we will win! [CROWD CHEERS]

There’s a holy spirit in us. A spirit of courage and power that knows that liberation is only possible when we are free, when every single one of us is free. [CROWD CHEERS AND APPLAUSE] We cannot be divided in these movements by identity. We have to fight on all the issues. Because the system of fascism, authoritarianism, Christian ethnonationalism is coming for us all! [CROWD CHEERS]

And we’re not going to take it! And we’re not going to be quiet! We will not be silent! We will NOT give up our rights, we will disobey the law, we will protect each other! [CROWD CHEERS]
Reproductive justice, reproductive care is healthcare. It is a fundamental human right. [CROWD CHEERS]

It is about liberation, it is about agency, it is about bodily autonomy.

Are you ready to fight for one another, to protect each other, to break the law to make sure that people can get abortions, for anyone who wants or needs an abortion can access it? [CROWD CHEERS] We are in this struggle together, my siblings, my siblings, we are in this struggle together. And the spirit of love and the spirit of justice and the spirit that is known by so many names is with us in this struggle.

There are more of us than there of them! [CROWD CHEERS] We will not be silent! [CROWD APPLAUSE]

And we will fight for every single one of us. And we will win! And we will not stop fighting until we win! [CROWD CHEERS]

Can I get an amen? [CROWD YELLS AMEN]

Can I get an amen? [CROWD YELLS AMEN]

Amen! [CROWD YELLS AMEN]

All right, we will be here in this fight, this is a long-haul fight, for our lives, for human thriving. And we will win. And it is a fight for our planet, for all our workers, for all of us. And we will win and we will not stop fighting until we win! [CROWD CHEERS]