‘Roe is dead’: Anti-abortion groups rally at Idaho State Capitol to celebrate new laws
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Mia Maldonado, Idaho Statesman
BOISE (Idaho Statesman) – Hundreds of community members met Saturday at Julia Davis Park and walked to the steps of the Idaho State Capitol for Right to Life of Idaho’s 50th annual “March for Life” rally in Boise.
Anti-abortion groups across the country participated in the rallies, with the goal to “celebrate each life from the moment of conception,” according to the March for Life website. The event has taken place each year since 1974, and it is held on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.
President of Right to Life of Idaho, Jason Herring, began the rally by comparing the anti-abortion movement to the abolition of slavery and the civil rights movement.
“Roe is dead, however abortion is not dead,“ he said. “The unnatural killing of a preborn child in the womb still continues to go on in the United States of America, so our will has to be stronger than their will,” referring to abortion-rights activists.
Megan Wold was the keynote speaker at the event. Wold is a former law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, whose 98-page draft opinion was leaked to the public in May. Alito’s majority opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to decide whether to ban or otherwise limit abortions.
“The forces arrayed against the pro-life movement in Idaho are strong,” Wold said to the crowd. “They are angry and they are highly motivated, so now more than ever, Idahoans who wants to protect life must act to do so. We must vote …. We must continue our prayers and our vigils and march at events like this.”
Even with Roe v. Wade overturned, Wold said the next goal is to persuade others to join the anti-abortion movement and to end abortions in other states where it remains legal.
“We must continue to operate crisis pregnancy centers and support pregnant women and their babies now more than ever,” she said. “We must donate generously from our time and treasure so that it can never be said that pro-lifers in Idaho neglect the needs of the women and their babies they care so deeply about.”
IDAHO ABORTION RIGHTS LEADS COUNTER-PROTEST, TWO ARRESTED
A group of nearly 50 counter-protesters with the Idaho Abortion Rights Collective marched from Cherie Buckner-Webb Park to the Capitol building, arriving shortly after the anti-abortion rally began.
Counter-protesters chanted “My body my choice,” and “Abortion is healthcare.”
Kimra Luna, co-founder of the Idaho Abortion Rights, told the Idaho Statesman in a phone interview that although abortion is mostly illegal in Idaho, the collective continues supporting reproductive rights.
“Our main focus is direct action by supporting Idahoans and getting access to birth control, continuing education about birth control and getting legal abortion access,” they said. “We mainly want to spread our message that there are Idahoans who resist the abortion bans and see the bans as cruel and harmful to our community.”
According to the Idaho Abortion Rights Instagram page, two members of the group were arrested while leaving, but they posted bail shortly after. Jail records show one of the members was arrested after allegedly obstructing officers and noise prohibitions. The other was also arrested after allegedly obstructing officers.
Boise Police Department Haley Kramer told the Statesman in an email that officers warned one of the demonstrators to stop using a megaphone without a permit. Kramer said she was then seen using the megaphone near 10th and Idaho streets, so police detained her. Police said they arrested the second person after she attempted to intervene.
“Police made contact them and attempted to have another discussion about the violation and issue a citation,” Kramer said. “Evidence indicates [she] acknowledged the officers instructions but then began pulling away and was detained.”
Luna said they feel Boise police are targeting the abortion-rights group. They said anti-abortion groups who were marching also used megaphones, but police did not arrest them.
“Our goal was to not engage with the people on the other side, like not talk to them or avoid them as much as possible,” Luna said. “It was just be loud and use our voices. That was it. That was the only goal and then go home.”
Today was not the first time the Boise Police Department arrested abortion-rights activists.
The Idaho Statesman previously reported that Luna filed a tort claim against the city after they were arrested in May during an abortion protest. Luna said they worry the two people arrested today will feel the same distress and trauma they felt.
Idaho State Police blocked off parts of Jefferson Street in front of the Capitol building to keep the counter-protesters separated from the anti-abortion march, according to state troopers.