South Florida abortion rights advocates joined a nationwide protest Tuesday against recently passed bans, demanding that state legislators not participate in a renewed push to overturn Roe v. Wade.
More than 100 people rallied at lunchtime in downtown West Palm Beach. They chanted “our bodies, our choice” and held signs that included slogans such as “keep your rosaries off my ovaries” and “no coat hanger.”
Mary Holland, 66, a Hobe Sound resident, said she doesn’t want to return to a time when women had to seek dangerous back-alley abortions.
“We were here for Roe v. Wade,” she said, referring to the landmark 1973 case that established a constitutional right to an abortion. “Why are we here again? I thought I was done almost 50 years ago.”
Alabama’s governor recently signed a bill that bans abortions in nearly all cases with no exception for rape or incest. Doctors who violate the ban could face up to 99 years in prison.
Governors in Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio and Georgia approved bans on abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks. Missouri lawmakers passed an eight-week ban, and Louisiana is considering a similarly restrictive law.
Florida state legislators considered at least four abortion-related bills during the session that ended May 4. None of those bills passed, and a fetal heartbeat bill didn’t get a hearing. A bill that would have required parental consent for minors having an abortion passed the House but didn’t pass the Senate.
Anti-abortion lawmakers are vowing to continue their efforts to limit abortions in the state.
“This discussion is definitely not over,” state Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in an interview. “It is too sensitive. It’s life or death for those of us who are pro life.”
Wanda De Jesus, 61, of Boynton Beach attended Tuesday’s protest with a coat hanger as a prop that read “Never Again.” Her shirt carried the message, “Vaginas brought you into this world and vaginas will take you out!”
“I feel like there is an assault on women’s rights,” she said. “They want to silence us and tell us what to do. They are trying to take us back to the olden times.”
The demonstration in West Palm Beach sparked shouts from one passer-by. She yelled, “You are not right to kill babies. You are all criminals.”
Demonstrations also took place Tuesday in Delray Beach, Fort Lauderdale and Miami.
