Hundreds rallied in front of the Federal Courthouse in Eugene Friday. They came to protest the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade. KLCC was there.
The honks of support at times drown out the chanting crowd. Many hoist signs with messages like “Keep your theology off my biology.”
54-year old Cheryl Ernst waves a coat hanger, a symbol of dangerous, pre-Roe abortions. She hopes the use of the metal hanger as a protest prop is not lost on anyone. We are going backward, she said.
“We live in a society where now abortion is going to be illegal in a majority of the U.S," she said. "And we do not have universal health care, women are going to be forced to have children that they don’t necessarily want, we have an inadequate adoption system. This is not about abortion. This is about controlling women’s bodies and not giving women access to the health care that they need.”
Congressional candidate Val Hoyle warned that the dissolution of privacy rights won’t stop here. She said, Justice Clarence Thomas made it clear “they are going to come after gay marriage and birth control” next.
In addition to the local politician, representatives from Planned Parenthood and community activists spoke out to an ever-growing crowd. Poet and activist Paris Woodward-Ganz read a poem which ended with, "hell hath no fury like a women scorned."
Woodward-Ganz was reportedly arrested several hours later while marching through the streets of downtown Eugene in a protest named "Night of Rage." EPD has confirmed "less lethal non-chemical munitions" called pepperballs were deployed to disperse a crowd of about 75 protesters heading toward a controversial pregnancy counseling/services business, Dove Medical Clinic, on East 11th Avenue.
At least ten protesters were arrested by EPD for disorderly conduct and/or resisting arrest. Sources say all were released by 2pm, Sunday.
