Demonstrators walk from VSU to downtown

Oct. 25—"Two, four, six, eight. Separate the church and state!"

"Her body. Her choice."

"What do we want? Women's rights! When do we want it? Now. Not tomorrow, but today."

Demonstrators vocalized these chants along the streets of Downtown Valdosta Saturday.

The latest "Our Body, Our Choice" march was the result of a joint collaboration with A Chance to Initiate Opportunities Now, Valdosta State University's sociology club, and Collegiate Women of VSU.

While the Supreme Court reversal of Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case June 24 played a major role in mobilizing the rally, David Jonathan "D.J." Davis, ACTION president, said Gov. Brian Kemp's policies on abortion also played a factor.

Kemp signed House Bill 481, also known as the "Heartbeat Bill," a Georgia law banning abortion when a fetal heartbeat is detected, typically at about six weeks, into law back in 2019. The law was temporarily put on pause in October of the same year by a federal judge as it violated the right to an abortion established by Roe.

The law went into effect this past July, a month after Roe's overturning.

"What overturning Roe did was essentially give state governments free reign over women's bodies. That in itself is not OK; we the people have the right to privacy. Unfortunately, with the current makeup of our Supreme Court and how their cases are heard, I don't think we'll see them changing their minds or even revisiting the issue in the near future," he said.

"Some states, such as California and New York, has protected women's rights through legalizing abortion and making sure they still have a choice. However, Georgia is not one of those states. Our current governor has made it clear he does not support the right to an abortion and by extension, a right to privacy. I don't understand how politicians like him don't like governmental interference in citizen's private lives, but they want to get into women's business and potentially force them to have children they don't want. That's unbelievable to me."

Davis said electing candidates who support women and their rights is the way to bring about true change. Kayla Ellis, president of CWVSU, agreed.

"I know that things aren't going to change overnight but I really want to bring awareness to the topics of bodily autonomy and the rights that are being taken away from women. Seeing young people so passionate about something could influence others to get out there and do one of the things that can really make a change, like vote. I really hope that people who saw and attended the march will become passionate enough to go vote," she said.

The rally settled in Unity Park after a two-mile stretch from North Oak to Lee streets and the crowd heard remarks from District 8 state Rep. candidate Darrius Butler, VSU student Atalya Manchester and Pastor Angela Bates.

Butler agreed with Davis and Ellis' earlier sentiments and encouraged the audience to do their part and elect candidates who support women's rights.

"We have candidates up and down the ballot who are going to fight for us. Just the other day, I did an event with Sen. (Raphael) Warnock and Stacey Abrams, and when I tell you we got folks on the ballot who are fighting for us, who are fighting to make sure our rights are protected, who are fighting to make sure that we have better opportunities, we need to do our part," he said.

"Here's the icing on the cake. I want to drop a little bit of information on you guys. If you think 'it doesn't affect me at all, it just doesn't make a difference, it is what it is,' I'll give you guys a bit of a history lesson. ... I'll take you back to when the Civil War was getting over with. We had this thing called the 13th Amendment. In order to get the 13th Amendment passed, it took two thirds of the House, two thirds of the Senate and the president to sign it. I want y'all to think about that. We now have 100 senators in the U.S. Senate, two thirds of that is 66. Imagine for a moment 66 senators saying 'You know, slavery wasn't that bad.' This is why it's important that we vote. This is why it's important that we get elected who is going to fight for us."

Angela Bates spoke to the crowd, making it clear while she supports women's rights and feminism, she personally doesn't advocate for abortion as a mean of birth control. However, just because she feels it shouldn't be used except in the cases of rape, incest or danger to the mother's life, doesn't mean other women shouldn't have the ability to make their own choices.

"I support this rally and you all, but before we proceed, I wanted to let you all know where I personally stand on this issue. ... 'Oh, I got pregnant because I forgot to tell him to wear a condom' and you're pregnant. That's no reason for an abortion. That's no reason for an abortion; you were just not responsible. When you're not responsible, you have to deal with your irresponsibility. Because when you make a choice, there's always a consequence, right?"