Real stories. Bold action. Powering all women & their communities to dismantle oppression.
Imagine if each of us took one or two more actions to remind policymakers that while the minority is loud, the majority of US residents overwhelmingly support reproductive freedom. Let us continue to be louder!
7 Actions to take NOW to support Reproductive Rights…
Read MoreThe March in Minneapolis was not the only march that happened to lift up Reproductive Freedom in Minnesota this month. There were marches all over Minnesota. If you hosted or attended a March outside of Minneapolis, we’d like to hear from you! We’d love to feature your story and/or pictures here on the website.
We have a couple of questions to get your started, but feel free to send more or less.
What was the event like? (March/speakers/rally in a park…)
Time and location please?
Did you have any speakers, performers, planners or partners you’d like to highlight?
How many people showed up?
Anything you’d like us to add?
And feel free to send pictures – just email us at Admin Committee admin@womensmarchmn.com.
Read MoreThank 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.)
Read MoreBansOffOurBodies: 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.
Read MoreBansOffOurBodies: A March for Reproductive Freedom is happening on Saturday, October 2 from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. 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. Planners are pleased to announce speakers for the program in Loring Park:
Yolanda Roth, Strategic Partnerships Director, TakeAction MN
Shayla Walker, Vision Realization Advisor, Our Justice
Erin Maye Quade, Advocacy Director, Gender Justice
James Darville, Policy and Organizing Director, OutFront MN
Nature Keletso Inger, Human Rights Activist
Kendra Harris, Planned Parenthood Youth Council Representative
Fardouza Farah, Planned Parenthood Youth Council Representative
What do you know about abortion rights in MN? A lot less than you think…
Read MoreAn invitation to all to join us on August 27 at the Turf Club for the second A Tribute to Shania Twain show. We’re going to have fun, spread some joy, lift up women – all while singing along to some of Minnesota’s hottest women artists. And big thanks to the hosts A Little Too Short to be Stormtroopers Band and First Avenue for donating $1 from every ticket sold to the Women’s March MN.
Read MoreThere’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:
Read MoreThanks 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
Read MoreWE 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…
Read MoreSo join us for a special, off-cycle Third Thursdays - TOMORROW, 6:00 - 7:00 pm - with Rep. Carlos Mariani (St. Paul), chair of the House Public Safety committee. Rep Mariani will speak about the final stages of negotiations on police accountability measures to be included in the Public Safety omnibus bill, and what we as activists can do to help move things forward.
Read MoreToday 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…
Read MoreTonight (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
Stop Line 3 - write to Biden, call Sen. Klobuchar and Sen. Smith
The Treaty People Gathering is a weekend-long initiative leading up to a non-violent direct action on June 7 in Northern Minnesota to stop construction of Enbridge’s Line 3 project in Northern Minnesota.
WMM members have been involved with Line 3 actions in the past by volunteering to document construction of the line and attending protests in Northern Minnesota as well as in the Twin Cities. A group of us plan to join the Treaty People Gathering on June 5-6 (Saturday and Sunday) to support the preparation of the non-violent direction action planned for Monday. The preparation will take place near Detroit Lakes; we will be leaving Saturday morning and returning Sunday night. Please let us know if you want to lend your time and energy for this important cause. (Contact us at admin@womensmarchmn.org.)
Read MoreJoin us at the Treaty People Gathering June 6-7
We need to follow the Water Protectors who have been standing up to Enbridge since the beginning. They are asking us to join them by driving to Line 3 and voicing our opposition. Treaty People Gathering, an event hosted by Honor the Earth, Giniw, and many state and national organizations are hosting this event and WMM is forming a group to join them. More details to come, but we want to know if you want to caravan with us on June 6 and 7th (you can stay overnight or join us for a day.)
Read MoreTake a Minute to Take an Action
Couldn’t be with us last Tuesday but want to take action on important issues? Here are the instruction sheets for the three issues we took action on last night - MN Environment and Natural Resources omnibus; expansion of Medicare; THRIVE Act. Please use them to contact MN state and federal policymakers to affect change:
Read MoreTime 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
SF970 Public Safety Omnibus bill (Omnibus judiciary and public safety policy and finance bill) is still being heard in the conference committee. Big discrepancies remain on the issue of police accountability measures. The DFL-controlled House wants them included, and the GOP-controlled Senate doesn’t. We need to change that.
Read More
