Berliners protest the reversal of Roe v. Wade, fearing a ripple effect in Europe.
By Richelle Boyd, Alexandra Goldberg, Lian Benasuly
In the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that last week reversed the Roe v. Wade right to abortion, hundreds of protesters rallied in front of the U.S. Embassy in Berlin on Friday, warning that other human rights are at stake in the near future, in America and abroad.
The global influence of the United States has sparked anxiety around the world, raising questions about who and what are going to be next.
“It’s a dumpster fire,” said Maddie Sheesley, 34, a volunteer for the ‘Bans Off Our Bodies Berlin’ abortion rights demonstration. “Every week it keeps getting worse with more horrific news.”
The protest was organized by an activist group at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate, next to the U.S. Embassy, to emphasize the work of Planned Parenthood’s action fund ‘Bans Off Our Bodies.’
Called the Brandenburger Tor in German, it is a symbolic landmark, where former president Ronald Regan in 1987 urged his Soviet counterpart to “Tear Down this Wall,” two years before its opening led to the end of the Cold War. Earlier, former president John F. Kennedy famously declared American solidarity with residents of encircled West Berlin in a 1963 speech elsewhere in the city, saying “Ich bin ein Berliner” — I am a Berliner.
Now, though, it is the United States that is the subject of pity. In the week since the Supreme Court overturned the right to abortion, demonstrations have taken place at U.S. embassies around the world.
“America is so important to all of us,’’ said Alice Cunningham, 25, an Irish activist now living in Berlin. “We have to fight for the rights of Americans from every corner of the globe.”
The protest at the Brandenburg Gate in fact drew protesters from around the world — Europeans, Asians, expatriate Americans and of course Germans.
“Here in Germany we are going forward, while America is going backwards,’’ said Maria Dost, a 56-year-old Berliner.
In Germany, abortions take place without restrictions within twelve weeks of pregnancy, although they are technically not legal. But the regulations are becoming more permissive.
On the same day that the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Germany’s coalition government pushed a motion to scrap section 219a of the criminal code, which dates back to Nazi-era Germany and criminalized public communication by doctors about abortion. Now, doctors are allowed to provide medical information about the abortion procedures they perform without risk of prosecution.
Even with steps that make abortion policy more progressive in Germany, many Berliners — native or not — are taking part in abortion right protests fearing what’s to come for Europe in the near future, said Paul Hambling, a 34-year-old English translator at the protest.
“The U.S. is never going to listen to us,” Hambling said. “But I think we need to show that this is not going to happen in Europe.”
Hambling pointed to the irony of the court’s decision.
“If men needed abortions, we could probably get one in the supermarket,” he said.
Because Hambling’s sister had an abortion, the issue hits close to home, he said. For him, it’s not his place — or any man’s — to say if a woman can have an abortion. With him was Sergio Romero, a 22-year-old restaurant server, and another one of the few men at the protest.
“You don’t determine what happens to a woman’s body unless you’re a woman,” Romero said. “If you don’t have the reproductive organs of a woman, you shouldn’t be making choices on what a woman does with her body.”
Berlin is a hub for progressivism, said rally volunteer Maddie Sheesley, a Tennessee native who currently works as a product manager for Clue, an app that helps women track their menstrual cycles.
Sheesley demonstrated for abortion rights to show solidarity with American ovulators, despite being half a world away.
“The Supreme Court decision wasn’t surprising but it was still horrifying,” Sheesley said. “It’s horrific that Americans are willing to accept this legislation by a Christian nationalist minority of voters.”
The donation-based Bans Off Our Bodies Berlin was founded in May, in response to the leaked majority decision draft written by the Supreme Court and obtained by Politico. This was the group’s third demonstration for abortion rights in the United States. The bi-partisan abortion rights group crowdsourced public support for the rally via social media sites — its Facebook page garnered the interest of over 1,000 Berliners from a range of cultural and national backgrounds.
“Rain or shine,” a Tweet by Bans Off Our Bodies Berlin said. “We will be there and we will be loud!!!”
And sure enough, demonstrators in front of the Brandenburg Gate stood in pelting rain with handmade signs. Bundled up in jackets and with umbrellas, the chanting crowd attracted attention from bystanders in the area.
One participant, Margo Mulholand, said she started attending abortion protests in the 1970s at small and large rallies in Washington D.C.
“I’m so appalled. I’ve been protesting this since the 70’s and into the 90’s and I’m so angry,” Mulholand said. “I just hope people take to the streets in the States.”
Mulholand, registered to vote in Michigan, said she protested on Friday to protect her daughter’s future in Germany, fearing a ripple effect in the rest of the world. She is also angry about the recent Supreme Court ruling that limits the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
“In general, I find German young people to be very politically active so it gives me hope for our future,” Mulholand said. “But with the Supreme Court just ruling on the EPA, it gives me a lot of worry for what is coming.”
The Roe reversal will affect 40 million women of reproductive age living in states hostile to abortion rights, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research organization that examined ‘trigger bans’ that jumped into effect immediately after the ruling, as well as pre-Roe bans that restore abortion laws from before 1973.
Twenty two states have constitutional amendments or laws in place that made banning abortion a quick process once Roe v. Wade was overturned. And several other states, such as Florida and Indiana, are likely to ban abortion due to their political composition, according to the Institute.
Though some protesters from the U.S. hail from pro-choice states like California, that didn’t stop them from expressing solidarity with women everywhere, out of frustration with the Supreme Court’s decision.
“I came to the demonstration because I was absolutely horrified. I am shocked that such a fundamental right is being taken away,” said Zoey, 37, a California native currently living in Berlin who withheld her last name to protect her privacy. “It’s sickening, it’s disgusting, I don’t even have the words to describe how horrible it is.”
Traveling across state lines to get an abortion is not feasible for many women of color and women living below the poverty line, said Anna James, 25, an American social work student living in Berlin.
Protestors say the reversal of Roe v. Wade ruling will disproportionally affect LGBTQ+ rights. While only 15.4% of pregnant heterosexual women will get an abortion, 22.8% of lesbian women and 27.2% of bisexual women will receive the procedure, according to a two-year analysis conducted by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.
Ava Gabriel, a 30-year-old doctor from Bonn came to the demonstration with her partner, Lea Gabriel, and their 6-week-old child.
“I think nothing is off limits at this point,” she said.
