Abortion rights protesters rally at RI State House in wake of Supreme Court leak
PROVIDENCE -- Hundreds of abortion rights protesters, aided by tools that ranged from old-fashioned picket signs to projectors and even a hot air balloon, created a spectacle at the State House on Tuesday night, rallying for a defense of the longstanding U.S. Supreme Court decision that has enshrined abortion as a constitutional right in the United States for decades.
"We are strong," said Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, who is running for Congress. "We are powerful. We are determined and we will win."
Magaziner was among a gaggle of state officials and lawmakers to speak energetically from the steps.
"In 2022, abortion access is on the ballot in Rhode Island and across the country," said Secretary of State Nellie Gorbea, a candidate for governor.
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On Monday night, a draft opinion by the Supreme Court was leaked. The opinion showed that the high court may overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade.
The rally drew an all-ages group, from older people who read news reports when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its landmark decision in 1973 to a large procession of younger college-level students who marched from the Brown University campus.
Dr. Katie Ellis, a 31-year-old obstetrics and gynecology resident at Women & Infants Hospital, arrived with a group of other residents. Their white coats made them easier to see in the dark.
"The bottom line is we should just be making these decisions with our patients," Ellis said. "No one else should be involved. It's important to us."
Ellis hails from Connecticut.
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One of her colleagues grew up in Texas and went to medical school in the state, where lawmakers have banned nearly all abortions after around six weeks of pregnancy.
Dr. Lauren Murphy, 28, said she came to Rhode Island -- to Brown's residency program at Woman & Infants Hospital -- to learn the "full scope" of obstetric and gynecological care for woman. That includes abortion, she said.
Just then, Murphy's colleague, Dr. Megan Smith, took the microphone on the State House steps. She listed things that scare her.
"I'm scared for my colleagues who will be persecuted for providing basic health care," she said.
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Dr. Benjamin Brown, a member of the faculty at Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School, told the crowd that he strives to meet patients' needs, to "hear their values and provide the care that they need based on those values, based on where those patients are coming from."
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Across the country, abortion rights protesters mounted similar rallies.
By Tuesday evening, Katharine Quinn, 51, of Barrington, was setting up a machine that projected images onto the sides of the State House.
"Controlling My Body, Controlling My Future," said one of them.
The political opposition, which argues for the rights of the unborn, was not visible or vocal at the rally.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Roe v. Wade: RI abortion rights protesters converge on State House
