More than 400 protesters gathered around the fountain in Forsyth Park at 11 a.m. on Saturday for Savannah’s Women’s March. This was just one of over 600 protests happening across the U.S., marching in response to the controversial anti-abortion law in Texas and two days before the U.S. Supreme Court reconvenes in a session widely expected to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The Texas law is the biggest threat to abortion access since the landmark 1973 Roe vs . Wade decision which legalized abortion.
Texas is not the only state implementing a controversial abortion law.
Melissa Nadia Viviana, co-organizer of the local march, said the message that she wanted to communicate is that women need to have control of their bodies and their future.
“It's the only way we can spread equality throughout this country, so there's no going back to having other people make decisions for our uterus in the 21st century,” Viviana said. “We cannot progress at the same level as men if we don't have control of our reproductive freedom.”
A Texas law banning most abortions after cardiac activity is detected in the embryo, usually around six weeks, went into effect Sept. 1 after the U.S. Supreme court decided not to block the new "fetal heartbeat bill." Six weeks is before most people know they are pregnant.
States across the U.S. are working to ban abortions, including Georgia with its highly-criticized 2019 anti-abortion "Heartbeat Bill" that was blocked in 2020 from taking effect. The bill is currently on hold until the Supreme Court rules on a similar Mississippi bill next year.
"I wanted nearby women in other neighborhoods to say, 'Oh that could happen to us, and we need to rally for their rights because it's all of our rights together,'" Viviana said.
Viviana and her fellow co-organizers Grace Marcy and Laura Brooks were joined by a diverse crowd of over 400 women's rights advocates and supporters as they marched and chanted down Bull Street toward Johnson Square, carrying various signs calling for reproductive freedom.
Haley Hughes, a Chatham County resident who attended the march, said the new Texas bill heightened her sense that "she needed to do something."
John Cole, a Bryan County resident, said he showed up to defend the rights of all women. "Give women their rights. Don't touch their bodies."
The march included eight speakers, among them former Savannah Mayor Edna Jackson who acknowledged the longstanding battle for reproductive rights and the power of voting.
Credit: Adriana Iris Boatwright/Savannah Morning News
Credit: Adriana Iris Boatwright/Savannah Morning News
"It is about the rights of women, not just to control our bodies, but rights that are going to affect how we vote, when we vote, if we can vote," Jackson said.
The speakers were optimistic about Women's Health Protection Action, which the House of Representatives passed on Sept. 24. It is federal legislation that would protect the right to access abortion care throughout the U.S. by creating a safeguard against bans and medically unnecessary restrictions.
Toward the end of the speeches, one man arrived in counter-protest, but a crowd of people danced around him and blocked out his sign with their own and his words with music.
Kathy Adams, the Southern regional director of the National Federation of Democratic Women, quoted women's rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer — "I am sick and tired of being sick and tired" — and left the crowd of protestors with a call of action to "spread the word."
"Don't make today the last time you make your voices heard. Spread the word at the nail salon, the hair salon, the grocery stores, the churches and everywhere," Adams said to the cheering crowd. "Freedom of choice is what we want and we want it now."
Laura Nwogu is the quality of life reporter for Savannah Morning News. Contact her at lnwogu@gannett.com. Twitter: @lauranwogu_
This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Protesters rally in Savannah to champion for reproductive freedom, defend Roe v. Wade
