Boulder County residents organized two marches on Saturday to protest the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade, with congressman Joe Neguse and League of Women’s Voters ,participating in the Women’s March in Boulder and a pro-choice protest in Longmont.
The Women’s March in Boulder was hosted by YWCA and a pro-choice protest in Longmont was hosted by Emma Grix.
Grix said she believes that women’s rights and bodies are being impeded by the American government after overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“I honestly think and truly believe that women have a right to their own medical decisions and a woman’s body does not need to be violated for her to have a right to make those medical decisions,” Grix said.
Another reason she organized the march is because she has fertility issues and is worried about in vitro fertilization being an option for her and her husband after the Supreme Court’s ruling.
“For IVF to be effective, they implement multiple embryos into the woman's uterus for a successful rate, but according to the new laws that we now have, an embryo has rights more than the mother does. So any fertility treatment that can be is most likely not gonna be fruitful in the United States,” Grix said.
YWCA Boulder County has hosted several women’s marches in the past regarding the overturning of Roe V. Wade, including one last fall when the discussion around overturning Roe v. Wade began.
“We’ll be continuing to focus on mobilizing our community especially around the Get Out and Vote initiative that we’ll be doing at the march, but also as we move into fall,” said Debbie Pope, chief executive officer of YWCA Boulder County.
Pope does not believe that one march or protest will provide all the answers, but she does believe that multiple marches highlight the power of the community and the ongoing fight for women’s rights.
“This is going to be an ongoing fight. It is not a one and done, you don’t go to a march and it’s finished, but it is a way to mobilize people and give them an outlet to be able to feel heard and to feel a sense of community, and we are stronger when we see the power we have together,” Pope said.
Pope said she organized this protest because she believes that overturning Roe v. Wade was disrespectful to women, but most importantly to their rights.
“To me personally it's really about dignity and respect for people and individuals. It’s reinforcing some type of superiority of one group over others and for me it's incredibly disrespectful,” Pope said.
Marianne Bailey from Arizona came to the YWCA Boulder County Women’s March to march alongside her daughter. She said she’s frustrated with the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and believes it is sad for the next generation of women.
“Well it made me sick to my stomach when Roe v. Wade was overturned. You just have to have a choice to have a kid or not, it’s not up to somebody else,” Bailey said.
Grix said she is further using this protest as a way to bring the community together to highlight that the community stands by women and other minority communities.
“I can’t do much, I don’t have a lot of power. But with this protest I am hoping that together as a community of Longmont we can bind together and let other people know who are also LGBTQ, other women, anyone that is scared with what is going on in this country, is not alone,” Grix said.
Pope said she hopes people feel inspired from the Women’s March.
“I hope they feel motivated and understand the power that they have individually and collectively, and then that they’re taking action and they recognize the importance of what they can do individually from voting, to volunteering, to donating,” Pope said.
At the protest, Grix and her family and friends handed out contraceptives to those that attended, including Plan B and condoms. Grix’s family and friends donated the contraceptives to be handed out at the protest.
“It's very important that we highlight these things because we went from having medical care at our fingertips to now, people are gonna end up dying by the thousands,” Grix said.
Candice, who declined to give her last name, attended the protest in Longmont because she feels frustrated and shocked that women still have to protest for their bodies.
“I just think that women should be able to control their own destinies. It's their body, they need to be able to decide what they are going to do with it,” Candice said.
The Women’s March began with speakers, one of which was Rep. Joe Neguse, who urged people at the march not only to march, but vote to ensure that reproductive health and fundamental rights are protected for everyone in the United States.
“Marching is not enough. Vote. Vote like your freedoms and our freedoms depend on it because they do. We are two senators away in the United States Senate from codifying Roe v. Wade, not ten years from now, not five years from now, six months from now, so let’s get it done,” Neguse said.
