Thank you to our partners UnRestrict Minnesota, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and 11 others, the 200 volunteers, and an estimated 10,000 people who marched with us in Minneapolis Saturday, October 2, 2021 for #BansOffOuBodies: March for Reproductive Freedom. We joined more than 650 marches across the country to demand an end to the dangerous, escalating attacks on reproductive healthcare in this country. The magnitude of the response demonstrates what surveys have already indicated, that 74 percent of Minnesotans support to access abortion without restrictions.
(photo credit Anne Hodson 2021)

Thank you to the volunteers, speakers, performers, planners, partners and attendees who made the #BansoffourBodies March for Reproductive Justice such a success. If you have photos share please post them on the Women’s March Facebook Page. (Photos below courtesy of Anne Hodson.)

BansOffOurBodies: A March for Reproductive Freedom is happening on Saturday, October 2 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. The planners are pleased to announce performers for the program in Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and Loring Park. (Speakers were announced earlier this week.)

• Performers at the Sculpture Garden include Unlawful Assembly and Katy Vernon.

• Performers at Loring Park include Rachel Kurtz, Mae Simpson, Lenora Elaine, Mikko Blaze, Zon Legacy Phoenix and The Insomniac.

The march to Loring Park will begin at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden at 11:00; the rally will start around noon when attendees reach Loring Park. BansOffOurBodies: A March for Reproductive Freedom is organized and hosted by Women’s March Minnesota (WMM), Unrestrict Minnesota, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota Action Fund, and more than 25 other groups. Please register for the event online.

All are welcome to attend and masks are required to keep everyone safe. The 1/2 mile route (map) is fully accessible and there will be a small accessible seating section with chairs in front of the stage in Loring Park.

There’s still time to join us tonight (Jul 20) at 6pm or use the information below to act in your own time.

With the Session ended we’re going with a mix of state and federal actions:

• Call on Walz to Stand Strong and Be Bold

• For the People Act - Schumer needs to ACT now

• Stop Line 3

Thanks to folks who attended Time to Act tonight in real time. There’s still time to use the information below to act in your own time. All three actions are important and time sensitive:

· Stop Line 3 before construction over the Mississippi starts tomorrow

· Show your support for Congress passing S.1, the For the People Act

· Police Accountability

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Please sign the petition to President Biden to ask him to Stop Line 3! Then tell 3 friends to do the same. Even better, also call the White House and Climate Office of Gina McCarthy to tell them to Stop Line 3 at 888-724-8946.

What else can you do?

Women’s Marchers are good at standing up and SAYING NO.
Also, consider a cash donation or donate food or gear to support the Water Protectors who are camping at the sites where Enbridge plans to drill and/or consider a donation to the bail fund for protestors who are arrested.

1. Contact DFL House Leadership

Rep. Melissa Hortman (36B), Speaker of the House (DFL) Tel: 651-296-4280

Email: rep.melissa.hortman@house.mn

2. Contact Governor Walz

Governor Walz and Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan Tel: 651-201-3400

Email: https://mn.gov/governor/contact/

3. Contact Senate Leadership

Sen. Paul Gazelka (9), Senate Majority Leader (GOP)

Email: https://www.senate.mn/members/email-form/1169

4. Contact your own legislators (Rep. and Sen.), particularly if they are on the Public Safety Conference Committee.

Find your legislators and contacts here - https://www.gis.leg.mn/iMaps/districts/

Learn more…

Today the water protectors have seized the site of an Enbridge Line 3 construction site. Led by indigenous women Winona LaDuke and Tara Houska and joined by celebrities such as Jane Fonda and Catherine Keener, sources have reported more than 1,000 people in the group. So far, Enbridge says, the protestor have done little to impede the $4 billion project. But I read that in the Washington Post – so the water protectors are indeed having an impact.

If nothing else, they are letting people know the perils of Line 3 and that it can be stopped by President Biden. You can contact him now (202-456-1111) to tell him you support the water protectors and stopping Line 3.

As I write this I’m back in St Paul and watching the brave water protectors in the sweltering heat (90 degrees and sunny) chanting “water is life” as police from several Minnesota counties and cities work to silence and remove the protestors from the Treaty People Gathering in Northern Minnesota. A small team from Women’s March Minnesota was up in Northern MN…

Tonight (June 1, 2021) at 6pm, a team of Women’s March MN members will be meeting to make calls to ask our policymakers to represent us! (It’s not too late to sign up to Time to Act now!)

We will address the following topics:

• Establish and Fund the Missing & Murdered Indigenous Relative Permanent Office

• Take action to stop the Gun violence

• Eviction Moratorium Off-Ramp

• Stop Line 3 - write to Biden, call Sen. Klobuchar and Sen. Smith

Time to Act is happening at 6pm tonight (May 18). There’s still time to join us or use the information below to act in your own time.

We are delighted to have Representative Kristin Bahner join us tonight to briefly update us on the 2021 session, the bills we have featured in previous weeks and issues that relate to women. We also have a few actions to take:

• Contact MN Senators about Environment & Natural Resources Omnibus Bill

• Thank Senator Smith for signing letter asking Biden to expand Medicare benefits

• Ask Sen. Klobuchar and Smith to co-sponsor the Thrive Act

Thanks to everyone who attended the Time to Act session tonight. We sent emails this week to key legislators - we invite others to do the same before May 6 for greatest impact.

Each link below includes everything you need to take action: info on the bill, who to contact and a script you can use or modify to help legislators understand what you want. (You can also get more details on actions.)

1. Oppose Senate Education Omnibus bill

2. Keep Police Accountability measures in the Public Safety Omnibus by adding provisions from House version

3. Promote Pro-Democracy/Voting Rights Action by supporting specific House provision and opposing specific Senate provisions in State Gov omnibus bill

4. Promote House Environmental Omnibus Bills