Over the weekend, Boston, Massachusetts, was afflicted with a great plague known as, ahem, the National Men's March to Abolish Abortion and Rally for Personhood. The Boston Globe counted hundreds of rally-goers, almost all of them men, who gathered to galvanize their fellow men to step up and stop abortion. (I’ll interject here to say I don’t think men need a rally for that—between Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health and the reelection of Donald Trump, they're clearly already on the case.)
Of course, they were counter-protested, memorably by protesters dressed as clowns wearing bright red noses and mocking the assembled men, who were all wearing suits. By Saturday afternoon, through reported skirmishes and confrontations between both sides and police, 17 rally go-ers and counterprotesters were arrested. Among them was 24-year-old Riley Dowell, the daughter of Rep. Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), who, as minority whip, is the second most powerful Democrat in the U.S. House.
This is the second time that Dowell, who seems awesome and who I’d argue should replace her mom in Congress, has been arrested. In January 2023, while protesting the construction of a police training facility (known as “Cop Cities”), Dowell was arrested and pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer, resisting arrest, and vandalizing a historic monument. At the time, video footage showed Dowell spray-painting “ACAB” and “NO COP CITY” on a landmark in Boston Common. This time, Dowell was arraigned on Monday on charges of disorderly conduct and interfering with lawful assembly.
In a statement shared with the Boston Herald, Clark affirmed that “every American has the right to protest and stand up for their beliefs, but they must do so responsibly and peacefully." That is much kinder than what I expect my parents would say if I were arrested!
In any case, I can’t stress enough how heinous and worthy of protest this anti-abortion rally was. As if a self-styled "National Men's March" isn't repellant enough, the mission statement on their website declares:
IT’S TIME to build a true civilization of authentic love and abolish abortion – making it illegal in law, and finally unthinkable in culture.
IT’S TIME to get men off the sidelines and active in protecting and defending vulnerable women and children.
IT’S TIME for the U.S. Supreme Court to do their job and explicitly affirm constitutional personhood for the preborn under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
I repeat: There's really no need for any kind of protest from these gentlemen. That final point—the call for constitutional fetal personhood under the 14th Amendment—is quite literally included in the Republican Party's official 2024 platform. And guess who just won the election!
Men’s March founder Jim Havens’ opening remarks for the rally called on men to “stand against the ongoing, daily mass murder of our littlest brothers and sisters.” He continued, “It’s not ‘religious extremism’ to believe in a scientific fact... Life begins at fertilization. Every abortion kills a living human being."
Social media posts from the rally show scores of attendees—almost entirely white men of all ages holding signs that read “PERSONHOOD NOW,” as well as wildly inappropriate pictures of supposed aborted fetuses.
According to the National Men’s March’s Facebook page, they held several other rallies earlier this year, including in Rochester, New York, and Southern California; but they’ve been hosting large-scale marches and rallies for a few years now. They also seem to routinely host mini-protests, standing along roadsides with signs that read, “Real Men Support Life & Unborn Children. HONK IF YOU AGREE.” What’s the opposite of honking??
A lot of vile, far-right groups seem to be emboldened by Trump's reelection, actually. At the same time as the National Men's March over the weekend, neo-Nazis appeared to take the streets in Columbus, Ohio, waving swastika flags. CNN's Dana Bash suggested on Monday that it's unclear "which side" those Nazis are on, inexplicably suggesting they could be pro-Palestine protesters. Of course, on Tuesday, the Informant, an outlet covering far-right extremism, pointed to a recent photo of the Nazi group's leader at a Trump rally.
Alas, far-right and anti-abortion groups have been strategically attempting to mobilize and elevate men's voices lately, between the recurring scourge of these marches or, last year, when a top anti-abortion organization (and recognized terrorist group) Operation Rescue hosted an all-male panel advocating for the death penalty for abortion and total “abolition” of the health service.
If anything, I’d like to see a rally calling for anti-abortion men to shut the fuck up—both Rep. Clark and her daughter are invited.
