On February 26th, more than a hundred people united energetically in Santa Cruz, along with cities across the nation, to demonstrate their disgust with systemic violence against women. At noon, people converged at the Clock Tower before marching down Pacific Avenue to Laurel St. People chanted "Not the Church, Not the State; Women must decide their fate" as they continued up Laurel St. and onto Mission St./Highway 1 where there was a brief occupation of the Mission and Bay intersection.

Demonstrations nationwide were organized in response to HR-3, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act." In large measure, H-3 would render permanent the restrictions on federal funding of abortion in the United States laid out in the Hyde Amendment.

The Hyde Amendment currently bans all federal money from going to abortions, except in cases of incest or rape. The GOP's HR-3 will change this language to "incest or forcible rape." This would mean that a woman would have to somehow prove that rape was "forced" in order to get access to abortion. Protesters say this language reinforces the notion that some kinds of rape are not as serious as others. Read more and view photos