Abortion rights protesters gather at Market House to voice support for Roe v. Wade

The sun peeked through a cloudy sky Saturday morning as cheers and chants erupted through the Market House from abortion rights protesters.

The song "I Am Woman" by Helen Reddy filled the Market House in downtown Fayetteville as protesters started to gather.

Weeks after a leak of a draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court suggested the court might overturn Roe v. Wade, a decision that protects abortion access, the Fayetteville chapter of the National Organization of Women has organized two protests, the second on Saturday.

Pamela Carver, president of the Fayetteville chapter of NOW, spoke about the importance of protecting the right to safe abortions.

"The people in your community and across the country deserve the power and freedom to make their own personal protective care choices," Carver said. "Having a baby should be a choice, not a government mandate."

More: 'It's not fair': Fayetteville residents react to possible overturning of Roe v. Wade

Protesters like Hanh Nguyen said it was important to participate because it wasn't the business of any politician if a woman had an abortion.

Nguyen said she was appalled when she heard about the draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court.

"Not that I was alive back when it wasn't legal, but I hear the stories of people who died in order to get their abortions," she said. "As people have already said, this doesn't stop abortions from happening, this is just stopping safe abortions."

One protester spoke of the dark history before abortions became legal.

"Every hospital in the country had a GYN ward that was dedicated to women who had had illegal abortions and...were almost dead when their friends brought them into the emergency room," Jill Neeld said.

Neeld also spoke about the shift in life after women got the right to have an abortion.

"Women started graduating from high school and women started going to college," she said. "Women started going and getting their master's degree and for law school. We had a demand to get into those schools and demand to get into law school and we did that."

For Rachel Locke, it was significant to participate in the protest because an abortion saved her life.

"Without an abortion 20 years ago, I would not be here," she said. "I had an ectopic pregnancy while on birth control and then my son, who was born six years later, would not have been here because of it. So, I support every woman's right to have one whether she just wants it or it's a medical necessity."

More: 'Make their voices heard': The evolution of protesting and activism in Fayetteville

For other protesters like Christin Niles, this wasn't their first demonstration for reproductive rights. She said she previously participated in the Women's March in Washington, D.C. but this was her first time protesting in Fayetteville.

Niles held a sign that read, "Don't like abortion? Just ignore them like you ignore the 400,000 children in foster care."

"So they're so concerned about a cluster of cells, but yet most of the force birthers don't adopt; they don't foster," she said. "They're not involved in the community in any way other than to tell us what to do with our bodies."

Multiple politicians were also in attendance at the protest including U.S. Senate candidate B.K. Maginnis, Congressional District 7 candidate Charles Evans, District 2 City Council incumbent Shakeyla Ingram and House District 43 candidate Kimberly Hardy.

Hardy shared a story with the protesters about the difficulty to make the decision to have an abortion.

"People talk about this decision (to have an abortion) as if it's so flippant as if it's nothing to go and have that procedure," she said. "I have never said this publicly but I have been one of those women and it is not an easy decision to make."

Many drivers downtown honked their horns in support of the protest. There were a few drivers that yelled negative comments at the crowd instead of honking.

One protester pleaded for older people who remember what it was like to guide the youth.

"We need to talk to young people because they don't remember not going to college because they might get pregnant," she said. "These young people won't remember what that life was like and we need to show them and remind them so they don't go through what we did."

Staff writer Akira Kyles can be reached at akyles@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Abortion rights protestors gather in downtown Fayetteville