LANSING, Mich. — A pro-choice rally nearly covered the lawn of the state Capitol Saturday afternoon, organized by a group called Mi Body Mi Choice and mobilized the threat to abortion rights in Michigan and around the country.
"We had 14 really awesome organizations there that are all kind of fighting that fight right now," organizer Chelsea Julian said.
The fight organizer Julian is referring to is the defense of Roe v. Wade, which some believe will be overturned after the Supreme Court begins its annual term on Oct. 4.
Because Michigan has an abortion ban from the 1930s, if Roe v. Wade is overturned, safe access to abortion could end in Michigan.
"At the end of July 2021, I learned that my own city of Hillsdale, Michigan, was proposing an ordinance very similar to the Texas six-week abortion ban," Hillsdale native Kathryn Watkins with Pro-Choice with Heart said. "Yes that's right it's already here in Michigan. Watch your city councils."
Speakers at the rally included U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, state Rep. Sarah Anthony, state Sen. Erika Geiss and Nicole Wells Stallworth, executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan.
"There are attacks that are mounting against safe and legal access to abortion. The bill that was passed and went into effect in Texas makes this issue a very real issue, and we know now that there are states all across the country that are implementing copycat legislation that are mirroring that same law," Stallworth said.
"Our job at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan is to protect access," she said. "We do that by holding elected officials accountable."
Click here for more information about Texas' abortion law, or here for more information about a proposed abortion ban in Hillsdale.
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