"We're not equal anymore": Abortion-rights advocates gather in West Palm Beach

WEST PALM BEACH — Abortion-rights advocates gathered in anguish and frustration Sunday in West Palm Beach, on the 50th anniversary of a landmark Supreme Court decision that no longer stands.

"It's obscene, actually," said Mary Lenkersdorf of West Palm Beach. "We're not equal anymore after they took Roe away."

Lenkersdorf was one of about 30 abortion-rights advocates who came together Sunday afternoon in the 1700 block of Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard with signs reading "Bans Off Our Bodies" and "Keep Abortion Legal." Demonstrators included residents from both the Democratic Women's Club of Palm Beach County and the National Organization for Women in Palm Beach County.

Lenkersdorf said she was there for her daughters, since their "rights are gone" after the 1973 Supreme Court decision protecting abortion rights was overturned in June by the court's right-wing majority. In the wake of the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, most abortions are now banned in at least 13 states as laws restricting the procedure take effect, according to the New York Times. Georgia also bans abortion at about six weeks of pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.

Abortion rights rallies and events in the "Bigger Than Roe: National Day of Action" were held across the country on the anniversary of Roe, said Joan Waitkevicz, the president of the county's Democratic Women's Club. In Florida, dozens of events were scheduled statewide, including a speech by Vice President Kamala Harris in Tallahassee.

Waitkevicz expressed her concern for the future of women's rights in Florida, specifically since the state is controlled by a Republican supermajority in the Legislature that is likely to bring further restrictions to abortions available in the state. In the most recent legislative session, legislators approved a ban on abortions after 15 weeks.

"Unless many Republicans wake up to the fact that more abortion bans will impoverish more Floridians and lead to more suffering on the part of families and newborns, we will be in worse shape at the end of this session," Waitkevicz said.

Although Democrats seized abortion-rights messaging during the midterm elections and energized voters nationwide, this messaging did not work in Florida. Counties statewide became more conservative because of high Republican voter turnout and an energized Republican base. Even Palm Beach County, a traditionally blue county with a Democratic voter-registration edge, reddened.

Caren Freigenberg of Wellington was at an abortion-rights rally more than 40 years ago in Washington, and she said she went to support the people in her life who have had to make decisions regarding pregnancies, whether it was for unviable fetuses or for keeping and raising a baby.

Freigenberg said she was frustrated abortion has become a much more partisan issue and that progress has gone "completely backwards" after Roe was overturned.

"You have abortions for many different reasons, and it is not up to a male who is not a doctor, who has nothing to do with your case, making that decision for you," Freigenberg said.

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Harris led a nationwide phone call Sunday morning with abortion-rights and women's activists to discuss the importance of canvassing and the impact of the overturned Supreme Court decision.

"Everyone here is a critical voice as we continue to build this movement with momentum, and as we continue to build the coalition," Harris said on the call.

But Arlene Ustin said she wishes she heard from Harris more and that the Biden Administration had acted sooner on issues relating to abortion rights. Ustin, the vice president of the Florida chapter of the National Organization for Women, said it is important now to codify reproductive rights into law.

Right now, she said it is important for advocates to combat misinformation and to keep voters informed and energized for the next election.

"Everybody in my generation knows of someone who has suffered with what should be a basic right of choice," Ustin said.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Abortion-rights advocates gather in West Palm Beach protest