‘Silence is violence’: UNH students rally for body autonomy in fight for Roe v. Wade
DURHAM — “I am mad!” said Tess Olszewski, co-president of the University of New Hampshire’s Planned Parenthood Generation Action. “I can travel to another state to get help with sexual health care, but there are a lot of women in marginalized communities that don’t have that same privilege.”
Clad in pink shirts, pins and signs, more than 100 UNH students rallied on campus on Friday afternoon, following the Supreme Court’s leaked decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on Monday. Angered students, male and female, chanted, “Hey hey, ho ho, your backwards views have got to go."
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Roe v. Wade was a landmark decision made by the Supreme Court in 1973 that protects a pregnant woman's right to choose to have an abortion. If the ruling were to be overturned, abortion will not be protected under federal law anymore, resulting in more than 20 states likely banning abortion. In New Hampshire, it is legal but banned after 24 weeks gestation.
“Isn’t it always America?” Olszewski said, referencing a threat to lose reproductive rights. “I’m never going to stop fighting for my body and I’m never going to shut up about it.”
Olszewski said overturning Roe v. Wade could open the doors for the government to criminalize other sensitive issues that were brought up in the past – sodomy, purchasing contraceptives, biracial marriage and pornography.
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According to Alyssa Antman, the organizing manager for Planned Parenthood New Hampshire Action Fund, the leaked documents were only drafts, and abortions are still legal and safe countrywide. However, Antman said if the ruling were to be overturned, this will allow 26 states to likely ban abortions resulting in more than 36 million women in the country losing abortion access.
“Abortion will still be legal in New Hampshire until 24 weeks even if the ruling falls,” said Antman. “(New Hampshire) is the only state in New England that does not have proactive protections for abortion rights and state law.”
Izzy Medeiros, co-president of UNH’s Planned Parenthood Generation Action (PPGA), said that it’s important for people to show up. She said the reproductive rights movement is basic human rights. Although the ruling will not affect her home state, Rhode Island, Medeiros said that she believes in equality for all – gender, racial and socioeconomic.
“At the end of the day, legislators are making decisions about people’s bodies,” said Medeiros. “But it’s important to show up because we all – men, women, transgender – deserve to have body autonomy.”
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It’s not only about abortion, but also educating people on that topic, said Madison Owens, a member of PPGA. The senior first joined the group as an advocate for women’s rights, but said the club has educated her on topics such as reproductive rights and sexual policy.
“I think it’s really important that (the draft decision) was leaked,” said Owens. “We should have a say in it and it just feels like we don’t at this point. If it wasn’t leaked, it would have just happened."
Her voice cracking, UNH student Emma Pryor-West predicted overturning Roe v. Wade will be legislators’ first step, and lead to restricting or eliminating gay marriage and transgender people's rights.
West said people of color have a higher maternal mortality rate. She said it would be “unfair” to take away abortion rights from Black women.
“If we don’t fight right now, we’re going to be fighting for the next 20 years. If we don’t fight right now, our children are going to be fighting this fight,” West said. “We need to remember to get angry, silence is violence.”
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: UNH students rally for body autonomy in fight for Roe v. Wade
