Hundreds of people gathered in Birmingham on Saturday for a Women’s March and rally in support of abortion rights.
The event, which started at 11 a.m. in Linn Park, included speakers, information booths, fellowship and a downtown march past Birmingham City Hall, the federal courthouse and the Jefferson County Courthouse.
“I’m sick of people making decisions about my body,” said Satura Dudley, 22, an organizer and speaker for the Birmingham march. “It’s mine, so I can make my own choice.”
Dudley, who’s involved in an activist organization called Cell A65, said her work for the Women’s March was directly aligned with Cell A65′s mission: to “fight for the liberation and justice of all people through direct action and radical community healing.”
Dudley said that quest was especially important in Southern states like Alabama and Texas, where restrictive abortion laws have been passed and direct challenges to Roe v. Wade are in place.
“I think the South is quite often looked down upon when it comes to reproductive care, and in reality, we fight the hardest. I think we should look at Birmingham and take example,” Dudley said. “The more that (lawmakers) wage war on women and people of color … they’ve created a whole new group of people who are ready to fight back.”
About 1,000 people signed up to attend the Birmingham event, organizers said, and the crowd appeared close to that size at Linn Park. The march here was one of several Women’s Marches planned in Alabama on Saturday, and part of a national effort to mobilize supporters before the U.S. Supreme Court convenes on Monday.
Demonstrations across the country were timed to the start of a new term for the high court that will decide the future of abortion rights in the United States, after appointments of justices by former President Donald Trump strengthened conservative control of the high court.
The march is part of “a fight to secure, safeguard, and strengthen our constitutional right to an abortion,” Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of the national Women’s March, said in a statement. “And it’s a fight against the Supreme Court justices, state lawmakers, and senators who aren’t on our side -- or aren’t acting with the urgency this moment demands.”
The marches also come a day after the Biden administration urged a federal judge to block the nation’s most restrictive abortion law, which has banned most abortions in Texas since early September.
It’s one of a series of cases that will give the nation’s divided high court occasion to uphold or overrule the landmark Roe v. Wade decision from 1973, which made abortion legal for generations of American women.
Threats to Roe v. Wade were on the minds of volunteers like Danielle Muir and Lauren Pinto, two Auburn University students who came to Birmingham for Saturday’s march.
“My mom had to have two abortions when she was my age or younger because she was raped,” said Muir, 22. “She went through a lot of adversity. Knowing she went through that, and knowing that I might not have the right to an abortion, and my children might not have the right after the struggles my family has gone through … it upsets me. I’m advocating not only for myself but for future generations.”
Pinto, 22, said she believes restrictive abortion laws have been spurred by lawmakers’ religious beliefs, thereby eroding the separation of church and state. Participating in the Women’s March is one way to protest against that stance, she said, and advocate for reproductive freedom.
“I’m here because I believe abortion should be a fundamental women’s right and now these laws that are being put into place are heavily influenced by religion,” Pinto said. “I think we can make an impact by registering to vote, and raising awareness, and educating people, and voting for elected officials that separate their personal views from government.”
Maleah Tate of Tuscaloosa, a student at University of Alabama, said she joined the Birmingham march to express her feelings, speak out for abortion rights and urge other women to do the same.
“I had an abortion recently during my college experience, so when I heard about the abortion ban, I was outraged,” said Tate, 22. “Instead of internalizing all the shame and hatred society wants me to feel, I go out and express myself in healthy and positive ways. ... If you ignore it and shame it, then girls don’t talk about things and they’re scared and things happen to them. Unsafe abortions, unreported rapes, domestic violence, all of these things are the ramifications of the abortion ban. It harms mental health, as well.”
Travis Jackson of Montgomery said he was present at Linn Park to set an example for other men who might not consider participating in a Women’s March. Jackson, 37, described himself as a volunteer at a reproductive health clinic and a Black Lives Matter activist. One of his goals is to encourage men to become allies.
“It’s important for me to be out here, because as a man, I think men need to step their game up when it comes to defending reproductive justice,” Jackson said. “They do have a place in it. It’s a place that pertains to allyship. I just want to be a prime example of how men can utilize their male privilege for the good of the cause.”
The diverse crowd at Linn Park ranged from kids to seniors, many of whom waved signs bearing slogans such as “No access, no choice,” “No uterus, no opinion,” “I am a woman, not a womb,” “When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty” and “Sorry, were my civil rights getting in the way of your misogyny?”
One gray-haired protester held a sign that said, “My arms are tired from holding this sign since the 1970s.” She drew nods and appreciative glances from folks who clearly felt the same.
Lauren Crandall, one of the key organizers for the Birmingham march, said she was pleased by the response to the event and hopeful it would have a lasting impact.
“Don’t think this has been a fun, positive experience, and then go home and that be the end of it,” said Crandall, 31. “Don’t just let this end, because our fight is never going to be over. This is something that we’re probably going to have to do for a very long time. So we can’t get complacent. It takes a lot more than just being a feminist to get things done. You have to get involved. You have to volunteer. You have to fight, and that’s what I don’t want people to forget.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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