Pro-choice protesters stage protest in Ogden | News, Sports, Jobs

OGDEN – With reproductive rights protests across the country, including in Salt Lake City, on Saturday dozens of people gathered outside the Ogden Municipal Building for a rally. The protests, associated with the Women’s March, focused on anti-abortion legislation enacted in Texas and Mississippi that severely restricts access to the procedure.

While Roe v. Wade was ruled almost 50 years ago, it has been frequently challenged by a multitude of laws across the country. Still, a conservative 6-3 majority in the Supreme Court worries some about the success of the decision and the removal of the possibility of having an abortion.

“I’m at an age when I was a beneficiary of Roe v. Wade, and these kids don’t know what it’s like not to have that legal option. I am fighting again, after 40 years, for young women and their partners to have this right, ”said Angela Urrea, one of the organizers of the event.

The fears were held across the generational gap. Participants ranged from children and adolescents to those who lived and remember the country before Roe.

For Liandra Dematteo, one of the youngest organizers at 19, the question is close to her heart.

“I was in foster care when I was a child, so I know the difficulties of going through a foster family and I know the abuses of the foster family. I know all of this and, honestly, I wouldn’t welcome anyone into foster care, ”said Dematteo. “If a woman decides to have an abortion, it is her right. It doesn’t matter if I get one or not, that doesn’t mean I should stop them.

Throughout the morning, passers-by honked their horns to support the crowd. Others also expressed their disagreement with the protesters’ messages. Most of the attendees bought their own signs with messages ranging from taming – “Really? ! Again?! Not in my custody! “- to arsonist -” If I wanted the government in my womb, I would p-a senator. “

The crowd walked down 25th Street, chanting and holding their signs in front of the crowd at the farmer’s market.

Each of the guest speakers shared their own perspectives with the crowd. Northwestern University community activist and alumnus Priscilla Martinez stepped onto the podium with a direct message.

“We have had enough. Enough about limiting the ability to make decisions about our lives. Enough of depriving us of our basic rights of individual choice, ”said the candidate for Ogden city council.

Martinez said, especially for women of color, care has been inadequate for too long and stressed the importance of ensuring that all women have the right to choose.

Local activist Jacarri Kelley wore a red shirt with “Black Lives Matter” written on it when she took the stage. Kelley began her healthcare career working at the Utah Women’s Clinic, one of the few in the state to offer abortion services. She worked there for five years.

“Women abort not because they want to; we have abortions because we have to. It is the most difficult decision we have to make as women, ”she said.

Kelley shared her own story of having to undergo a medical abortion due to an ectopic pregnancy. She shared her personal experience to draw a direct line with Texas’ six-week abortion ban.

“If I was in Texas and had an ectopic pregnancy, I would have died because they wouldn’t hit me with a 10-foot pole,” Kelley said. “They didn’t care if we were alive at the end of the day. Because if they did, housing wouldn’t be a problem right now, foster care wouldn’t be a problem, and our health care system certainly wouldn’t be a problem.

The youngest speaker to speak was Raquel Juarez, a native of Ogden and a 2019 graduate of Ben Lomond High School. Juarez, wearing an outfit inspired by Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” used the book as a jumping off point for her speech and shared her experiences as the youngest person to take the mic.

Ogden High School alumnus, lawyer and former business leader Kay Hoogland provided the legal angle at the event. Hoogland, who was also editor of the Virginia Law Review and a former partner of Seyfarth Shaw, said she thought a full repeal of Roe was unlikely to happen, even with the Tory majority in court. supreme.

“I have a prediction to make legally and I hope it will come true. The court rarely takes back the fundamental rights it has recognized. He recognized the fundamental right of a woman to choose to have an abortion, ”she said.

Despite her optimism, she pleaded for continued vigilance over legal activities and persistence in sharing their message. Looking ahead, Urrea hopes the protest will be a reboot for Indivisible Ogden and lead to more regular protests in the region.

Also at the rally, tables were set up by Students United for Reproductive Freedom and the League of Women Voters. Regardless of the language used or the different messages, all participants shared the same philosophy, a reinforced message on the circular signs provided by the organizers – “Keep Abortion Legal”.

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