'My Body My Choice': York High School students rally against Roe v. Wade overturn

YORK, Maine — Sage Collis and Emily Rubin knew there were already plenty of abortion rights rallies protesting the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, but they still wanted York’s voice heard.

“We wanted to make sure there was a protest in York, too,” said Collis, who organized a rally of more than 100 people in front of the Town Hall Monday. “Because it’s our town.”

Abortion rights protesters lined York Street on both sides holding signs with messages like “My Body My Choice” and “Abortion is a basic human right.” They convened in reaction to the Supreme Court’s ruling last week to overturn Roe v. Wade, which made abortion no longer a constitutional right.

York Democratic state Rep. Lydia Blume said she counted more than 150 people holding signs and hollering as cars drove by, at times honking in solidarity.

“I’m feeling energized by these young people and all they’re doing,” said Blume.

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Maine state law allows abortions up to the point of viability, after which they may be performed only to protect the life or health of the mother. The ruling gives states more power to restrict or ban abortion, and several states have pre-Roe laws that either ban or restrict abortion.

Collis, the president of the York High School Young Women’s Leadership club, said she and Rubin organized the rally after being inspired by protests held in other parts of the country. They said they were visiting colleges in the nation’s capital when the decision came down to overturn Roe v. Wade and described the atmosphere there as “high strung.”

Nicole Masterson, the York High School librarian and advisor to the Young Women’s Leadership club, said the club goes back to the late 1980s. She said she has been advisor to the group for the last seven years and sees the girls running the club today as inspirational. She said the group has been talking about the possibility of a road trip to Washington, D.C. in light of the Supreme Court decision.

“They make me find courage,” Masterson said. “I very much am super proud of them.”

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Older protesters likened the rally to those when Roe v. Wade was first decided in 1973.

“Here we are again,” said Sally Sulloway, who stood at the rally with her friend Nancy Davis. She held a sign that read “We won’t go back.”

Democratic York state Rep. Patty Hymanson, who also remembers the fight for abortion rights in the 1970s, said she was reassured by the turnout in front of Town Hall and the passion the students showed.

“They’re the same way my generation was with this issue,” Hymanson said. She said activists fighting for abortion rights today have the same hill to climb that they did 50 years ago.

“I’m sorry they have to fight this fight again,” Hymanson said, “But I’m so happy they’re out here doing it.”

The rally drew honks and cheers but no pro-life counter protest. Bruce Young, York resident and pro-life activist, said he was unaware the rally was happening Monday. He said since 2012 he has been attending regular protests in front of an abortion clinic in Greenland – 40 days in the spring between Lent and Easter, then another 40 days in the fall. He said even when he was more liberal in the 1970s, he was pro-life.

“I was relieved to figure out we finally got a decent ruling,” Young said of the Supreme Court decision. He said he was optimistic services could be made available to help women who become pregnant so they can find alternatives to abortion.

Protesters said Monday they fear women in states with abortion bans will resort to unsafe alternatives, however. Sulloway, who was 25 in 1973, said growing up she heard from her older female relatives about unsafe procedures women sought out in places where abortions were illegal.

“Any legislation is not going to stop abortions,” Sulloway said.

“It’s just going to kill women,” Davis added.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: 'My Body My Choice': York, Maine protesters rally against Roe v. Wade overturn