Pro-choice Liberals Boycott Independence Day

Pro-choice liberals, including a northern California public school board member, are calling for boycotts of Independence Day to protest the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

The progressives, many of them women, started calling for the boycotts on social media hours after the U.S. Supreme Court voted on June 24 to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion and return jurisdiction over the procedure to state legislatures.

In a press release on Friday, Bans Off Our Bodies Florida announced a July 2-4 “Independence Day Boycott from Roe v Wade Decision” that calls for a “total freeze-out” on retail spending.

“We’re looking to show Florida and the country that the impact of controlling women’s bodies will have far-reaching consequences,” said Laura Lippo, one of the boycott organizers.

Twenty-two states, including Missouri, Florida and Kentucky, have moved or threatened to restrict abortion at various stages in the past week as reproductive rights groups challenge them in lower courts.

AnaMarie Avila Farias, a member of the Contra Costa County Board of Education, posted an image Tuesday on Facebook with the words: “BOYCOTT 4TH OF JULY.”

“I am not feeling particularly patriotic,” Ms. Avila Farias added in the comments section. “I am especially not interested in celebrating a holiday centered around freedom from oppressive government when that freedom is not a reality for so many people in this country.”

A former Democratic Party member of the Martinez City Council, she later said in another comment on her post: “Lastly, last Friday women’s reproductive rights were taken away! We are not in a place of progress or celebration when human rights are being taken away.”

The Contra County Republican Party responded by posting an online petition calling for her resignation.

“Unfortunately, Farias isn’t up for election until 2024, so we demand her resignation as her abhorrent views have no place in our educational system,” the petition states.

Dozens of progressives have posted threads on Twitter supporting the boycotts.

Reporting by The Washington Times.

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