More than 300 people stood in front of the state Capitol in Little Rock on Saturday and listened to speakers who urged them to raise their voices and vigorously show their support for the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion 47 years ago.
The 10th annual Rally for Reproductive Justice included an appearance from Dr. Joycelyn Elders, the former U.S. surgeon general and former director of the Arkansas Department of Health.
Elders served as surgeon general in 1993 and 1994 during the peak of AIDS awareness, and earned a reputation of being a safe-sex advocate. She joked that she had been referred to as the "condom queen" and told the audience that she would always proudly wear that crown.
She said she was encouraged by the turnout of young people during Saturday's event. Elders was a featured speaker during the inaugural rally and told attendees that she had to be encouraged by organizers with the Arkansas Coalition for Reproductive Justice to return and speak to the crowd again.
"I'm getting old," the 86-year-old said. "I'm getting tired, and I'm ready to hand it off. I had hoped 20 years ago that I wouldn't have to stand here still pleading, still begging and still working to try and make a difference in fighting for reproductive rights."
She said unplanned pregnancies still occur at high rates around the world at a time when overpopulation is a growing concern.
"All babies born must be planned, wanted children," Elders said to rapturous applause.
Also among the speakers Saturday was state Rep. Nicole Clowney, D-Fayetteville, who said legislators have made moves that would "outlaw virtually every abortion" in Arkansas in the event Roe v. Wade gets overturned.
Laws passed during the 2019 legislative session included bans on abortions starting at 18 weeks of pregnancy and abortions based on prenatal Down syndrome detection. Another law also requires physicians performing abortions to be board-certified or certification-eligible obstetrician-gynecologists. Planned Parenthood and Little Rock Family Planning Services have urged the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis to keep in place a district judge's preliminary injunction blocking the laws from taking effect.
After the bills passed last year, Clowney posted an image of her eyes on social media. They were filled with tears, she said. She recalled what she wrote underneath the photo.
In her post, she acknowledged the abortion issue is difficult to talk about and is often complicated.
"But here's what's not complicated," she said. "Pregnant people are human beings, too. And too often in the halls of politics, people forget that."
Clowney said people who identify as "pro-choice" need to raise their voices. They need to be heard, and they need to be active. Time and again, she said, people who support Roe v. Wade approach her and talk in hushed tones, like they don't want to draw attention to themselves. They are timid when they need to be forceful, she said.
"Their words, while endlessly kind, were always spoken in a whisper," Clowney said. "When did we learn that we can only talk about abortion in a whisper? The responsibility is on all of us to get loud. We cannot be scared into silence. ... We do not have the luxury of silence."
Camille Richoux, the public relations chairman for the Arkansas Coalition for Reproductive Justice, said abortion rights have continued to be under attack for decades, in spite of the Supreme Court ruling 47 years ago.
"At no point in my lifetime has reproductive rights ever been expanded," Richoux, 28, said. "Politicians have only chipped away at it. People have taken our rights for granted, and people are realizing we can't do that anymore."
Rose Mimms, executive director of Arkansas Right to Life, said Friday that Richoux's group had a right to their event just as her group had a right to its event six days earlier. The March for Life, by comparison, drew 2,000 people.
"This is America. We can disagree," Mimms said.
"Until we can protect all life, we're going to keep fighting the good fight," she continued. "We're out to change hearts and minds. People don't go from being pro-life to pro-choice. They go from being pro-choice to pro-life. It just shows you that hearts and minds can change."
The crowd Saturday skewed younger and consisted mostly of women. Many of them had attended the rally two or more years in a row.
Among the attendees Saturday was 30-year-old Sarah Burns, who called the event "uplifting." She said she was encouraged by everything she heard.
"It is a good feeling to be surrounded by so many people who are focused on moving us forward and not backward," she said.
Metro on 01/26/2020