Women of Richmond March for Abortion Rights
On Friday, hundreds of locals marched from the Federal Court Building to City Hall, where they stood in silent protest for a minute before breaking out into chanting.
Someone shouted, “Bans off,” through a bullhorn.
They said, “Our bodies,”
In a demonstration against the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade, more than 500 people gathered and screamed their disapproval.
At 6 of the clock in the evening, a group organised by Catch the Fire VCU met in front of the Federal Courthouse, located at 701 East Broad St.
For three miles, marchers followed organisers who carried placards across sidewalks, road medians, and lanes of traffic. The city was alive with the sound of their conversations.
Abortion is, someone shouted.
The consensus answer was “Health care,”
They were joined on the way to City Hall by a larger throng headed by organisers from groups including Planned Parenthood, the ACLU of Virginia, and Equality Virginia.
Dozens of Richmond police vehicles arrived to herd people off of the sidewalk and onto the eastbound lanes of Broad Street. There were some of them, including Police Chief Gerald Smith of Richmond.
one protestor remarked, “All we want is for everyone to be safe.” “We want people to protest as long as they’re protected and continue to be peaceful.”
From the pavement, Rachael Deane could see a row of police officers scanning the crowd. Deane, whose children are aged 3 and 7, proudly displayed a placard reading, “I am a mother by choice!”
As Deane put it, “I’m really scared about the direction we’re headed as a country,” When asked why she felt compelled to testify, she said, “I am here because I am a woman and a mother and I have two young children and I strongly believe that access to abortion is very important for health care for everyone in this country.”
In the midst of the growing mass, Stephanie Walker and Deane stood by themselves.
Walker claims that an abortion made a significant positive difference on her life.
The Walkers had been married for a little over a year at the time. Since we are both graduate students, we were unemployed. No health insurance back then, so I made the decision to get an abortion.
According to Walker, she was able to finish college without having to worry about supporting a child while also studying. She also mentioned that it gave her and her husband more control over when they had a family. A full three years later, they finally succeeded.
And it is not simply those who get pregnant by mistake,” Walker clarified, “there are so many reasons why women choose to get abortions.” But I just did not have the financial resources to support a child. If it were not for him, we would not have the wonderful life we do or the two wonderful children we have.
The mob kept up their chant all the way to Monroe Park.
They shouted, “Bans off … our bodies,”