Ashlee Bruner cried when she heard the news Monday night about a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft ruling stating the majority of the justices planning to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“I’ve known women that have had abortions for many different reasons, some out of necessity, some just because it was their choice to do so,” Bruner said Tuesday. “This decision won’t stop abortions. It will only stop safe abortions.”
Bruner was one of hundreds of people who gathered Tuesday night at the corner of Marietta Street and Centennial Olympic Park Drive to protest the leaked ruling and advocate for reproductive rights.
MORE: Georgia activists react to leaked Supreme Court abortion draft
Bruner said she began looking for planned protests Monday after hearing about the report from POLITICO.
“I thought about going up to Washington D.C. but I thought, we need to make sure that Georgia sees that Georgians won’t stand for this,” she said. “Georgia is not a red state, Georgia is a repressed state. People local to Georgia care about abortion rights.”
The protest, led by the Party for Socialism and Liberation Atlanta, began shortly after 6 p.m. Tee Stern, with the Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights Organization, began protesting an hour earlier. The national organization had protests all over the country scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.
“I think it is completely outrageous that you have the highest court in the land making decisions for women’s lives and taking away their humanity and decimating their right to be able to decide when and if they have a child,” Stern said.
Stern said people need to take to the streets and continue to protest the possible Supreme Court ruling. She believes that’s the only way the draft ruling can be overturned.
“The only way to stop this is for people to flood the streets of this country and not stop,” she said.
Shonali Banerjee doesn’t usually come out to protest but after hearing the news Monday, she decided she couldn’t stay away. She quickly reached out to her friend and they found out about the protest in downtown Atlanta.
As a 47-year-old, Banerjee said she has always had the right to an abortion, and she can’t imagine the fact her daughter won’t have the same right as she did. She said her mother fought for abortion rights and thinks it’s absurd that, after almost 50 years, they must fight for the same right.
“I don’t think they are going to change their opinion. Honestly, I’m sure they won’t. It’s more about motivating more people to get out of their family life and out of their everyday lives that we have to fight,” Banerjee said. “It’s sort of beyond my capacity to imagine. I have never imagined that we would be in this.”
Currey Hitchens, who is running for state school superintendent, said she was angry when she heard about the draft ruling.
“People are saying they want to protect women, saying they want to stand for women’s rights, but they are not really doing it,” Hitchens said. “Do it now, now it’s the time to do it.”
Hitchens said it was encouraging to see so many people gathered on such short notice. Throughout the protest, chants could be heard demanding action and asking for women’s rights to be protected by politicians in Georgia and Washington.
Protesters marched down Marietta Street to the Georgia State Capitol. The protest ended peacefully around 8:15 p.m. where it began, near Centennial Olympic Park.
Similar gatherings were held across metro Atlanta Tuesday. A group of demonstrators gathered Tuesday evening on the Marietta Square, chanting and holding signs that read “Roe v. Wade Saves Lives” and “Abortion is Healthcare.” One read, “Ruth Sent Me,” with an image of the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Nicole Adkins brought her children Isaac, 5, and Zoe, 9. “I’m here for my children’s futures and everyone’s futures,” she said. Kennesaw State University senior Austin Heller lead the group in chants such as “Pro choice united will never be defeated. “This decision affects not only women, it affects everyone,” he said. “The right to privacy is granted to us by multiple amendments.”
Georgia NAACP President Gerald Griggs attended the downtown protest as an ally and supporter of civil rights.
“Usually, the first rights to go signal other rights that are under attack,” Griggs said. “Now to see Roe being under attack, I’m worried about all civil rights.”
Although it is just a draft ruling, Mina Turabi expects the Supreme Court to still go forward with it. She is worried that with Roe v. Wade potentially being overturned, other rulings like the one granting same-sex couples the right to marry, might soon follow. Still, Turabi was optimistic after seeing how many people came out to protest on Tuesday.
“Makes me hopeful because we are getting somewhere,” she said. “This is unity. We have to change the narrative of abortion care from white-centered to people-centered. We really have to get the marginalized people in this conversation.”
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