Organizers 'speechless' at turnout for abortion rights rally in Holland

HOLLAND — Well over 1,200 people marched from Holland's Unity Bridge to line River Avenue and demonstrate their anger over the U.S. Supreme Court's decision ending the constitutional right to an abortion in the U.S.

The theme of Monday's event was "We won't go back," referring to a time before abortion was broadly legal and available in the U.S. The symbol of the coat hanger, which some women wore as pins Monday, represents the at-home methods women used to get rid of unwanted pregnancies before abortion was legal.

Some women at the protest recalled helping family or friends drive out of state to get abortions before Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that created the right to an abortion under what that decision argued was an implied right to privacy in the U.S. Constitution.

Carol Fisher, who attended Monday evening's protest with her daughter and granddaughter, recalled how at 16 years old she volunteered outside a clinic, passing out instructions for how to drive to New York for an abortion procedure. As Republican and Democratically-controlled states enact different abortion laws, Fisher sees her past becoming her granddaughter's future.

"It's brutal to see the reversal of Roe," Fisher said. "I remember what it was like. I remember how frightened people were."

Friday's Supreme Court decision, in a case called Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, overturned the Roe decision, leaving abortion regulation up to state legislatures.

For that reason, many pro-abortion rights activists have focused their attention on Michigan's statehouse and a petition drive for a ballot initiative to amend Michigan's Constitution.

Several volunteers were gathering signatures at Monday's rally for the Reproductive Freedom for All ballot initiative, backed by American Civil Liberties Union funding, which would amend the Constitution to establish a right to reproductive freedom including in the areas of "prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management and infertility care."

If the amendment succeeds, Michigan would only be able to enact laws that restrict abortion after fetal viability, which is generally considered to be about 23-24 weeks, and the state would not be allowed to restrict post-viability abortions if the mother's physical or mental health was threatened.

Anti-abortion groups are strongly opposed to the Reproductive Freedom for All drive and have been raising the alarm, in particular about the ballot initiative's language allowing late-term abortions in some cases.

More: West Michigan residents, businesses and representatives respond to overturning of Roe v. Wade

More: West Michigan residents, businesses and representatives respond to overturning of Roe v. Wade

If the group succeeds in collecting enough signatures, the measure will be on the November ballot for Michigan voters to decide.

Dena Arner, a Holland resident who helped organize Monday's rally, said the abortion rights movement needs to take a page out of the anti-abortion movement's book and make abortion rights their "single issue" in elections. She noted how anti-abortion voters have successfully leveraged single-issue voting to elect Republican candidates and secure key judicial appointments like those on the Supreme Court.

"This will hopefully wake up people on this side who care that we need to start voting as single-issue voters because that's the only way we can make this thing happen," Arner said.

Some at the rally Monday worried that, if abortion becomes illegal in Michigan — and Michigan law criminalizes abortion, though that law is currently blocked from enforcement by a judge's preliminary injunction — that women will be unable to access medically-necessary procedures like the removal of a miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy.

Michigan's abortion law provides an exception to perform abortions to preserve the life of the mother.

For Arner, that protection is no comfort. She argued it will incentivize doctors to err on the side of caution and avoid doing procedures that could preserve a woman's health or fertility because they will fear prosecution.

"The life of the mother is not a bright white line in medical care," Arner said. "Doctors are afraid to draw that line, especially when the penalties are 10 years in prison. We're making it impossible for doctors to do their jobs in the best interest of their patients if they're making them decide between 10 years in prison or providing the best medical care."

Under Michigan's criminal statute regarding abortion, performing an abortion is a felony and selling or advertising an abortion drug is a misdemeanor.

The law is being challenged by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Planned Parenthood.

Jill DeJonge, one of Monday's organizers, said she was "speechless" at the number of people that turned out to rally and said she hoped the event showed women who support abortion rights that they are not alone in Holland.

— Contact reporter Carolyn Muyskens at cmuyskens@hollandsentinel.com and follow her on Twitter at @cjmuyskens. 

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Organizers 'speechless' at turnout for abortion rights rally in Holland