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Hundreds gather for abortions right rally in downtown Milwaukee, march to Planned Parenthood

abortion rights march
Posted at 10:10 PM, May 04, 2022
and last updated 2022-05-04 23:10:50-04

MILWAUKEE — Hundreds gathered at Red Arrow Park in Milwaukee on Wednesday for an abortions rights rally and march. The event took place less than 48 hours after a leak from the supreme court suggested Roe v. Wade will be overturned.

"It feels like time and time again the people that we've trusted to make decisions on our behalf and in our best interests have failed us," said Riley Hornilla who attended the rally.

Maera Zawacki was also at the event. They said they had three forced births and is concerned about the impact the decision could have on the LGBTQ+ community.

"It's necessary, it's a human right, it's a civil right," Zawacki said of Roe v. Wade. "As a non-binary person, I'm out here to march and say to SCOTUS, keep Roe v. Wade, make abortion legal and safe."

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Kate Thompson, a young women at the protest, expressed concerns that overturning Roe v. Wade will lead to reversals on other issues as well.

"One thing I'm worried about is other rights based on the right to privacy, like the right to contraception and gay marriage. I'm just worried that's what they're going for next and just worried this is a slippery slope of regressing even more with even more of our rights," Thompson said.

The rally turned into a march, which when through the streets of downtown and ended at the Planned Parenthood on Wisconsin Ave.

On the other side of the issue, Pro Life Wisconsin has also been vocal since the leak on Monday night. We spoke to Pro Life Wisconsin State Director Dan Miller on Tuesday.

"We're out here to protect those babies," Miller said of his organization. "We believe that these babies are persons in the womb. Their only difference between you and me is their location."

Miller and others with the organization say they try to give out information on alternatives to abortion and are often outside clinics that perform abortions.

"The pro-choice left looks at it as an ideology, it's about rights of some sort. Where we're looking at it more from the human stand point," Miller said.

If Roe v. Wade is overturned, Wisconsin Law would make abortion illegal in nearly all cases. However, Attorney General Josh Kaul has come out and said he would not prosecute abortion providers, but Planned Parenthood says it would suspend services until the question of enforceability is settled.

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