Locals hold rally to protest overturning of Roe v. Wade
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IDAHO FALLS – A rally was held in Idaho Falls to protest the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Friday, June 24, that officially overturned Roe. V. Wade.
The rally began at the Bonneville County Courthouse where several speakers spoke to the crowd. The speakers included Miranda Marquit, a Democratic candidate for the Idaho House of Representatives, David Roth, a Democratic nominee to the U.S. Senate, David Adler, president of The Alturas Institute, and Wendy Norman, a Rigby first-grade teacher and a candidate for U.S. Congress.
“It is immoral, to make it so women have to have children without making sure they can afford it, without making sure that housing is affordable, without making sure that they can live on their salaries, without making sure that their health can handle it,” Norman said to the crowd.
Around 100 people showed up at the Idaho Falls rally in protest of the ruling, claiming that it takes away women’s fundamental rights to make decisions for themselves.
Lisa Burke, the Jefferson County Democratic Chair, was in attendance to protest. Burke attended protests back in the 1970s when Roe v. Wade was first being argued.
“My body, my choice,” Burke said. “I’m not going to give up the rights that I fought for 30 years ago. I’m so tired of men telling women what we have to do.”
With the ruling, a trigger law will go into effect in Idaho after 30 days. The law effectively bans medical professionals from providing abortion care in most cases.
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“The rationale that was used to strike down this law is that there is not a fundamental right to privacy in this country and that you don’t have the right to make decisions about your life or your body,” Roth told EastIdahoNews.com.
With Idaho Falls Pride holding its annual parade on Saturday, June 25, members of the LGBTQ+ community are afraid that these rulings will not stop with abortion.
“All of us in the LGBTQ+ community are very concerned about what’s next because it won’t stop here,” Roth said.
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“The same rationale that is used for marriage equality, interracial marriage, contraception, segregation of schools, all of these different issues. Every single one of those might be on the chopping block next.”
After the rally, protestors marched to the Broadway Bridge to hold signs and protest during rush hour.
“This week is evidence that we are currently being governed, and policy is being made, by people who are interested in not only stopping progress but turning progress back,” said Marquit to the crowd of protestors. “I will not go back to the 1950s.”
