ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – From near and far, supporters and advocates gathered at Everman Park in downtown Abilene on Saturday afternoon for a rally and march for reproductive rights. With no opposition, many Big Country residents shared their stories.
With signs and handmade t-shirts, in 100-degree temperatures, dozens showed up at Everman Park to share testimonies of strength, their own abortions and organizers encouraged all to register to vote.
The rally, held alongside the Taylor County Democratic Party, came just eight days after the Supreme Court voted to overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade, which allowed a person to terminate a pregnancy.
Abilene’s own Sarah Weddington argued that the decision on Roe’s side. In doing so, she added a woman’s right to an abortion under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which covers a US citizen’s equal right to the protection of the law.
At the Abilene rally on Saturday, many let their voices be heard through impassioned cries or literal tears and broken voices. From testimonies of sexual assault or domestic violence – choosing to keep their child or terminate the pregnancy, to the encouragement to vote and the cries of supporters, “our bodies, our choice!”
“You keep pushing us to have kids when we’re starving for formula. You push us to have kids when you make fun of us for being on welfare or child support from our dads. C is awful, and I want us to stand up today and know why we are here, because this is our body. This is my body. Whether you are male, female, transgender, it doesn’t matter who you are. You are loved and we see you,” said a volunteer speaker at the Abilene Reproductive Rights Rally and March.
After the decision was overturned on Friday, June 24, Mayor Anthony Williams assured Abilene residents that the vote on the city’s sanctuary for the unborn ordinance would remain on the ballots in November.
As a reminder, the city of Abilene does not host elective abortion services, but there are several women’s clinics in the area that can refer people seeking to terminate their pregnancies to clinics outside of the city.
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