PHOENIX — Some Valley residents spent their Independence Day rallying for abortion rights. Telling ABC15 instead of celebrating freedom, they are fighting for it.
"It says: the land of the oppressed," says Alexis Eisa, reading her sign at Monday night's protest.
Some say they feel 'we are no longer living in the land of the free'.
"We're obviously living in an anti-democratic corrupt state that is not governed by the will of the people. It's not for the people," says Eisa.
The Phoenix Democratic Socialists of America organized a protest Monday night. Nearly 200 people showed up carrying signs and chanting outside Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema's office, demanding she defend Roe v. Wade.
"We saw the news that Sinema wouldn't support even suspending the filibuster, let alone abolishing it... as it should be abolished… so we came out here to show her what we thought of that," says Amanda Everett, chair of Phoenix Democratic Socialists Reproductive Justice Committee.
President Biden has called on Congress to codify abortion rights, saying he supports ending the filibuster if it means getting that passed.
Every Senate Democrat would need to be in agreement but two remain opposed, including Sinema.
"She ran on a lot of really progressive policies and basically backed out on everything she said," says one attendee.
"Either listen to your people or get out. Like, we want abortion access; we want to abolish the filibuster," says another attendee.
There were multiple signs of solidarity among the crowd, including those kneeling and a moment of silence, before ending the night by marching.
"It's sad. From gun control to abortion rights to like, social equity and social justice… we've been begging and pleading for, for a long time," says Eisa.
A few people from the opposing side also showed up with signs saying anti-choice equals class war, still, things remained peaceful.
