Disability rights activists across the nation are staging historic protests in Washington, DC, and other cities to fight the Republican effort to strip healthcare from tens of millions of people. On Tuesday, as the Senate voted to open debate, 31 protesters in the gallery were arrested, while 64 more, many in wheelchairs, were arrested in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building. The protests are continuing as Senate Republicans move forward with their attempts to repeal Obamacare. We speak with disability rights attorney Stephanie Woodward who has been arrested 16 times in recent weeks, community organizer Ola Ojewumi, and hip-hop artist Kalyn Heffernan, who recently occupied the Denver office of Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO).
TRANSCRIPT
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AMY GOODMAN: Wheelchair Sports Camp, here on Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. I’m Amy Goodman.
We turn now to look at the rolling resistance to the repeal of the Affordable Care Act. At the forefront of protests against the various repeal bills before the U.S. Senate are people in wheelchairs. Organized by the national nonprofit disability rights group ADAPT, Americans Disabled [for] Attendant Programs Today, scores of disabled activists have been arrested on Capitol Hill and at senators’ offices back in their home states, demanding no cuts to Medicaid.
On Tuesday, as the Senate voted to open debate, 31 protesters in the Senate gallery were arrested. Sixty-four more, many in wheelchairs, were arrested in the atrium of the Hart Senate Office Building. And the protests are continuing as Senate Republicans continue their attempts to repeal Obamacare.
For more, we’re joined by three guests who have been taking part in the protests.
Stephanie Woodward is with us, an organizer with ADAPT, disability rights attorney. She was arrested Tuesday for protesting at the Hart Senate Building. Video of her being ripped from her wheelchair and arrested for protesting…