4/25/04: More than 1 million people participated in the March for Women in Washington, DC today. Report from the Radical Cheer/Anti-Fascist Block.
There was a live bilingual broadcast from the March for Women on Pacifica Radio. Speakers and performers on the stage began an hour late because of the large size of the crowd. After 1:00 PST, the coverage continued on KPFT
A pro-choice rally was held in Fresno today.
Bay Area Women in Black held a Solidarity Vigil in San Francisco.
4/24/2004: Local Rally for Women's Lives in San Francisco. Photos: 1 2
"The time is right for a public demonstration of historic size in support of abortion rights and reproductive freedom for all women. Our rights are under attack as they haven't been in over a decade, and Roe v. Wade hangs by a thread in the Supreme Court." For these reasons, a variety of organizations sponsored The March for Women's Lives (formerly the March for Choice) in Washington, DC on Sunday, April 25th, 2004. Locally, Radical Women is one organization that put together a contingent. Read a fact sheet that march organizers printed about the March for International Women's Day.
Call for a Radical Cheer Bloc at the March in DC.
More coverage at DC Indymedia and Tally IMC
Women of Color Contingent:
Historically women of color have been excluded from mainstream feminist organizating. Through the early parts of the 20th century organizations like Planned Parenthood conducted a campaign of government sanctioned sterilizations of poor women and women of color. In the 1940s, when white women were recruited by Rosie the Rivetter to work during war time, again poor women and women of color were forced to point out that they had always worked. During the late 1960s and early 1970s women of color, lesbian and transgendered women, and poor women left feminist organizations in disgust, accusing the groups of catering to an upper-middle class straight, white woman, only. In 1992, during the last March on Washington for abortion rights, women of color were left out of the organizing and many chose not to attend the march. ECR interviews Women of Color Contingent on KALX

Women of color contend that this is the first time that the issues important to them have been taken seriously, but only because they put significant pressure on the organizers. Women of color formed their own contingent for the march on Washington, and organized around the concept of reproductive justice a concept that they say builds on abortion rights, but includes a much broader set of issues, including access to affordable health and childcare, adequate housing, employment guarantees for pregnant women, access to adequate sexual education and contraception, and much more. Women of color are also interested in elevating issues including economic, geographical, and language access to abortions and to health care and counseling, as well as a redefining of the concept of choice to include the ability to choose to have children.
Other events in DC this weekend as part of the March for Women:
On Saturday, April 24th there was a Latina Summit on Mobilizing for Reproductive Justice.
On Saturday the 10 in 10 gathering was held to organize for Choice USA's Young People's Contingent
Also on Saturday, the Strong Voices, Strong Choices, A Weekend for the Next Generation of Jewish Women
Pride at Work, Pride in Women was held on Friday.
NAACP Contingent