Abortion rights rally in St. Paul, MN

Up to 500 people gathered at the state capitol building here, May 21, joining a national day of action in response to the new round of abortion restrictions and bans in Alabama, Kentucky, Ohio, Missouri and Georgia. Chants of “Our bodies, our choice,” and “No more” echoed across the capitol complex.

Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice Minnesota helped organized the rally. There were a range of speakers and supportive politicians urging all to fight back on the attacks on women and choice. A woman spoke about a very hard personal decision she and her husband made in the second trimester. Doctors stated their fetus was dying in her womb. She told the crowd, “My message to the people pushing these laws is simple: Leave me alone. Leave all of us alone. Our reasons are none of your business.”

Another woman spoke about being old enough to remember what women had to do in order to get abortions before they were legal and declared, “we won’t go back to that.”

During the rally, a handful of anti-choicers tried to disrupt the rally by going behind the stage where the speakers were but they were quickly outnumbered when many pro-choicers. They were shut down by jeers of “go away” from the crowd, after a scuffle, they were escorted off the grounds.

Right now, some right-wing politicians in the Minnesota legislature are trying to pass a 20-week abortion ban in the state legislature. Others spoke to continuing to fight back, stating we must stop these dangerous abortion bans and fight to keep abortion safe, legal and accessible.