'All-hands on deck situation': Protesters gather at Springfield rally to defend Roe v. Wade

About 500 people attended the Defend Roe! Emergency Rally in downtown Springfield's Park Central Square on Friday evening. People of all races, ages and gender identities showed up to protest the leaked Supreme Court draft that would overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

A handful of counter-protesters were also in attendance, including a small group from Students for Life, and a black SUV that circled the square with "Honk 4 Babies" painted on the back and a loudspeaker attached on top.

The rally was organized by the Party of Socialism and Liberation, and included speakers from Planned Parenthood and Me Too Springfield.

Lucy Mayfield, a PSL member, hoped the event would inform and bring people together.

"With this rally, it's about building up awareness. There are people who still don't know Roe v. Wade is being overturned," Mayfield said. "There's also the fact that whenever the people stand up together — whenever we collectively put together our power and our strength and our voice — we can actually affect Congress then. Congress isn't likely to do anything without those stressors or without that push."

Fellow PSL member Seth Goodwin echoed that sentiment in his speech during the rally, noting that Roe v. Wade was "not gifted from on high from the benevolent ruling class," but "a victory of the struggling masses, the women's movement, and marginalized populations who took to the streets." He called for people to continue "to take the power back for ourselves."

The decision to overturn Roe v. Wade has been a long time coming, said Stacy Sherrod, grassroots organizer for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri.

"This is the moment we've been warning about for decades, right? We have. We have known this was coming," Sherrod said. "We've been preparing for this crisis and now it's time for everyone to take action, which I know you all understand, that's why you're all here. This is an all-hands on deck situation."

For now, abortion is still legal in Missouri, and people can still access "the care they need, no matter what," Sherrod said.

But many of those attending the rally were concerned that stripping away abortion rights was just the beginning.

A member of the LGBTQ community, Brent Paulson is especially concerned that his right to marry will be taken away in the years to come.

"If marriage equality is taken away, it would have a pretty profound effect on my life. When the Supreme Court ruled (on gay marriage) I was given the same rights as everyone else. It was a big day for me," Paulson said. "But now I feel like that could be taken away and it is being taken away from women right now. And all men need to listen to these women here today."

Deanna Bergen also believes the overturning of Roe will lead to other constitutional rights being overturned.

"I think they will overturn gay rights. I think they will overturn racial rights if they get the chance. Because specifically in the draft, it talks about how specifically Roe's right of privacy never should have existed and they could use that precedent to overturn many other rights," she said of Justice Alito's draft opinion.

A Drury undergraduate, Bergen said she fears for women's access to education in a world where pregnancies are forced to term.

"I could get pregnant and if I was pregnant I wouldn't be able to go to college like I am now — getting an education. I wouldn't have the means to carry on that pregnancy and go to school," she said.

About 20 minutes into the protest, a black SUV began to circle the protestors around Park Central Square. Across its side read bold letters "HONK 4 BABIES."

Other messages written on the car included "Jesus loves you," "end Roe," and "63,000,000!! bruh."

While driving the SUV around the square, its driver spoke through a loudspeaker — trying to shout his opposing viewpoint over the abortion-rights rally speakers.

While the SUV slowly looped around the protest, two young men exited the car and joined the outskirts of the protest. One wore a sweatshirt, while the other a hat from Bass Pro Shop.

"I love it. It's saving human lives," said one about the likely overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Both men, who did not give their names, said they would "of course" want to see a nationwide ban of abortion once Roe is overturned.

"Roe versus Wade being overturned is the best thing that's happened in my life," said the man in the Bass Pro hat.

Mid-interview, an argument broke out between the men and several abortion-rights protestors.

"You have a penis," one protestor yelled. "If you don't have a uterus, you don't have an opinion on this."

The men replied that they identify as women — an apparent jab against the gender identity of transgender individuals.

While the argument escalated into a shouting match, another individual at the protest grabbed through the open window of the circling truck — pulling out a series of wires that then hung limply outside the counter-protestor's window.

Apparently powering the loudspeaker on top of the car, the broken wires left the counter-protestor unable to amplify his message.

The two returned to the SUV as a crowd of protestors gathered around the truck. Soon after, the vandalized truck left the scene.

Casadi Mazurkiewicz, president and treasurer of Me Too Springfield, explained that victims of sexual violence would also be impacted by Roe v. Wade's overturn.

"Let there be zero doubt that the overturning of Roe v. Wade will cause suffering to thousands of sexual violence victims in Missouri. The national rape-related pregnancy rate among victims of reproductive age is 5 percent," Mazurkiewicz said, trying to speak over the counter-protestors in the black SUV. "I don't know about you, but I think even one victim being forced to carry their rapist's baby is too many."

Coco Barbosa attended the protest with their two children, a 5-year-old and an 8-month-old.

"I have children and I've had abortions and I think I need to have that choice," they said.

Barbosa's abortion took place during a time of their life when they could not keep a newborn safe.

"I was homeless during that time and I was with someone who abused me. And I didn't think that would be a good situation for my child to be born into."

Having made that choice for themselves, Barbosa fears a person like them could be imprisoned in six months for making the same choice under similar circumstances.

"That's what's coming. People like me will be put in prison. But I do know that people like me will also vigilantly fight against that and do everything we can to protect people like me," they said.

For Mara Cohen Ionnides, abortion access isn't just about reproductive rights — it's also about religious freedom. Cohen Ionnides is Jewish, a religion that believes life begins at birth and that if the pregnancy endangers someone's life or health, then an abortion is not only permitted, but required.

"My religion allows me, as a woman, to have an abortion under certain situations. So, if that's taken away, my religious freedom has been taken away. Since we're a country not based on religion — we're not a Christian country, we have no state religion — that idea that religion should dominate a law has no bearing in this country."

Susan Szuch is the health and public policy reporter for the Springfield News-Leader. Follow her on Twitter @szuchsm. Story idea? Email her at sszuch@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Rally for abortion rights takes place in downtown Springfield