WASHINGTON
Anti-abortion
activists and supporters of a woman's right to choose staged demonstrations in
dozens of U.S. cities Saturday, with the nonprofit group Planned Parenthood at
the center of the discussion.
Anti-abortion
activists organized rallies in more than 200 locations Saturday, according to
one of the national organizers, Monica Miller of Citizens for a Pro-Life
Society. The activists are calling for the federal government to stop providing
funds to Planned Parenthood because it provides abortions. It is something U.S.
President Donald Trump has said he wants to do.
Meanwhile, pro-choice activists organized in many of the same
locations to express support for the nonprofit, which provides a number of
reproductive health services such as pregnancy testing, birth control, and
breast exams at hundreds of locations across the United States.
Planned Parenthood does not get federal funding for abortions,
but Medicaid, a government health care subsidy for low-income families, pays
into Planned Parenthood’s other services. Critics say those funds help
subsidize the more than 300,000 abortions the organization provides each year.
Dueling
demonstrations
In some cities the protesters lined up on opposite sides of a major
roadway and held up their signs to passing motorists. Many of the Planned
Parenthood supporters wore pink knitted caps that have become their symbol of
solidarity.
In some cities, such as Evansville, Indiana, turnout was small
on both sides. Karen Meacham, a Planned Parenthood supporter who brought her
11-year-old daughter to the protest, notes that Indiana is the home state of
Vice President Mike Pence, a longtime abortion opponent.
Still, Meacham says, there were as many as 130 Planned
Parenthood supporters at the Evansville event, as opposed to about 60 against.
The anti-abortion activists, she said, “were mostly older people
and they didn’t stay out as long as we did. ... The pro-choice turnout was
actually really good for our small, conservative city.”
In Fort Collins, Colorado, about 1,000 people turned out in Old
Town Square, far from the local Planned Parenthood facility. Supporter Lauren
Farley said the measure was taken to avoid disturbing people seeking services
at the clinic.
Colorado Senator John Kefalas and Representative Joann Ginal
both spoke at the rally. Ginal told the crowd, “We cannot go backwards.” She
added that voices of support for women’s reproductive rights are more important
now than ever.
Farley, who came to the rally with her mother and sister, said
the dueling demonstrators were largely peaceful.
“One solitary guy shouted ‘baby killers’ at us a few times,” she
said. “He was largely ignored.”
Rally
outside clinic
Meanwhile, several dozen anti-abortion activists gathered
directly outside the Planned Parenthood clinic, several kilometers away. The
demonstrators held signs saying “choose life” and “stop abortion now.”
Anti-abortion activist Kevin Williams, who organized the protest
at the Fort Collins clinic, told the local newspaper, “We’re here to help these
girls. We’re not here to judge them or condemn. We are here to help and to let
them know that there’s alternatives to abortion.”
The pro-choice/anti-abortion
issues that the rallies settled into, however, distressed Charsey Prose, who
attended a rally in Sacramento, California. The Sacramento Bee reported about 15 anti-abortion
activists faced off with some 200 Planned Parenthood supporters.
Prose said she fears the subtler issues of federal funding got
lost in the argument over whether abortion should be legal at all.
“I think a lot of us that recognize all that Planned Parenthood
does and the funding they need were a bit uncomfortable with it being turned
into an ‘our body, our choice’ protest,” she said.
Prose added: “Regardless, it was great that so many people came
out.”
In 2014, the most recent year for
which figures are available, Planned Parenthood said it provided 324,000
abortions. But it also said the majority of its clients are seeking birth
control, being tested for sexually transmitted diseases or other services.
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