By: Jennifer Small and Fiona Broadie
Across from the Massachusetts State House, opposing chants from anti-abortion and abortion-rights advocates filled the air April 9 in anticipation of an upcoming Supreme Court decision that could potentially overturn Roe v. Wade.
Demonstrators aimed to bring attention to Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a case that will decide the constitutionality of Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. If the law is upheld and a new precedent is set, the timeframe to have an abortion could be significantly cut down across the country.
The Supreme Court heard arguments Dec. 1 and a decision is expected by July.
Kathy Lawrence, a volunteer organizer for Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, said bringing visibility to the looming Supreme Court decision is important for her cause.
“The goal is to make people aware that the US Supreme Court is poised to take away women’s rights to abortion this spring,” she said. “A lot of people don’t even know this is happening.”
Mariana Fernandez, an anti-abortion advocate with Boston Pro-Life Future, said she was there to fight for “a more vulnerable class of people,” who she said were “human beings in the womb.”
“I’m here today to fight for those who don’t have a voice,” Fernandez said. “We’re human beings from conception to natural death.”
Jordan Coccoluto, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences at Boston University, said she was at the rally to fight for the recognition of women’s rights as human rights.
“I think it’s really frustrating that politicians, specifically men, are trying to take [the right to abortion] away,” she said. “It’s frustrating to think that if I were to get pregnant and I wanted an abortion that wouldn’t be available to me.”
The rally took place on the same week that Oklahoma’s state house passed a bill making abortions a felony. Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights activist Maria Sanchez said in an interview that Oklahoma’s bill is “horrific” and not the first.
“About 26 states in this country are poised to pass fascist, brutal, draconian laws against women once Roe v. Wade falls, if we allow it to fall,” she said. “We can not let this go down. This is the death sentence for tens of thousands of women if we let this go down.”
Mariah McCarron, the New England regional coordinator of Students for Life of America — an anti-abortion advocacy organization — said she believes Roe v. Wade should be reversed because a newer generation of people who live in the United States need to be able to weigh in on the issue of abortion.
“We’re standing up for better because as a society we can do better in supporting women and loving them,” McCarron said. “And that’s only going to happen if Roe is reversed and the decision is given back to the states, where it’s decided on [a] state-by-state basis.”
Ann Dean, a Massachusetts teacher, said at the rally she believes abortion rights should be protected by federal law.
“I think women should have the right to choose or anybody with a uterus should have the right to choose,” Dean said.
McCarron added that she believes “women deserve so much better than abortion.”
“A lot of people aren’t aware of the risks and complications associated, and quite frankly, the trauma that is an abortion,” she said. “This industry is trying to sell abortion as a quick fix.”
Satisfaction with abortion laws among Americans is at an all-time low at 24%, according to a January Gallup poll. Those who want less strict laws constitute 30% of those polled, while those in favor of stricter U.S. abortion laws are at an all-time high of 22%.
