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A group of six Syracuse University students huddles on the first floor of the Schine Student Center at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, writing phrases such as  “STAY THE F*CK AWAY FROM MY UTERUS” and “BANNING ABORTION = BANNING SAFE ABORTION” on posters with markers.

The poster-making session was run by Students Advocating Sexual Safety and Empowerment, an organization that advocates for sexual safety and creating safer spaces at SU. Later that day, they, along with hundreds of other demonstrators, attended a rally for reproductive rights, organized by Syracuse’s local Planned Parenthood and Women’s March Syracuse.

Lucy Stover, a junior at SU studying television, radio and film and a member of SASSE, said that she wants to use her voice and right to protest to bring attention to the issue of reproductive rights. 

“Our goal right now is to come together. I think that the most important part of SASSE is the community,” she said. “We’re activists. Being activists at this age is really difficult. A lot of people don’t take you seriously. They think you’re uneducated.”

The group of students, along with about 300 other demonstrators, met at Planned Parenthood. A group of counterprotesters stood to the side of the gathering with a sign reading “UNBORN LIVES MATTER.” 

Rosalie Young, 78, stood with the large gathering outside the Planned Parenthood building.

“I’m old enough to remember before Roe v. Wade, and people would go to dirty corner street abortion places, and they would die from infection,” Young said.

Before the group marched from the Planned Parenthood building on East Genesee Street to the James M. Hanley U.S. Courthouse and Federal Building, activists and local politicians spoke to the crowd.

“We don’t want to go back to 2010 or 1980 or 1978 or 1957,” said Pamela Hunter, D-Syracuse, a state assembly member for the 128th district. “We want reproductive health rights universally now.”

William “Bill” Magnarelli, D-Syracuse, another state assembly member, said that “reproductive rights and women’s rights are under attack as never before in the United States.”

Following the speakers, the group marched toward the courthouse chanting “Not the church, not the state, women must decide their fate” and “Your body, your choice. My body, my choice.”

Karoline Leonard | Asst. News Editor

Speakers at the courthouse included Rev. Jennifer “Jo” VonRue, a minister at May Memorial Unitarian Universalist Society, and Sarhia Rahim, a freshman at SU.

“I am happy enough to have had a high school that brought planned parenthood into our health class,” Rahim said. “We should provide resources to people who don’t. Educate people who don’t have those resources. And if you have those resources, then take the time to do that research.” 

Rahim told the crowd, packed into the grass of the plaza and on benches on the outskirts, that low-income people are much more likely to get an abortion. Rahim also spoke to the crowd about the Hyde Amendment, which severely limits people insured by Medicaid from receiving abortions, forcing people to pay out of pocket in most cases for an abortion. New York uses their own state funding to cover the cost of abortions, however, a majority of states follow the amendment.

“Imagine the young women my age, 18 or younger, have to go through to pay for a safe abortion,” she said. “If a young woman is too young to have a job or doesn’t have one, now what?”

Kyle Chouinard | Asst. News Editor

 Other speakers from the community included; SeQuoia Kemp, founder and CEO of Doula 4 A Queen and cofounder of Sankofa Reproductive Health and Healing Center; Rahzie Seals, a non-binary queer- and trans-rights activist; poet Ruthnie Angrand, a Haitian-American communications professional and trained performer; and Dr. Renee Mestad, a board-certified OB-GYN and Planned Parenthood provider. 

Two members of SASSE also spoke at the event. Marie Isabel Pascual, a senior in SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, is the president of SASSE. She detailed how SASSE goes about discussing reproductive rights.

“We approach these conversations from an intersectional and abolitionist lens, acknowledging the experiences that individuals may face when interacting with systems of oppression,” she said.

Pascual said that the group is dedicated to reproductive rights, which is why she and SASSE were at the march to speak on how reproductive rights are currently being threatened in the U.S.

Ava Mari Lockwood, the vice president of SASSE and a sophomore in SU’s Falk College of Sport and Human Dynamics, asked the crowd to stand in solidarity with SASSE and Planned Parenthood. During their time speaking, they discussed the current political climate concerning reproductive rights.

“As discourse surrounding abortion continues and so long as it becomes more restrictive, it pushes the idea that those with uteruses existences are political,” they said. “Our reproductive rights are greatly in danger.”

Nancy Linehan, a sophomore biochemistry, psychology and neuroscience major, also attended the protest.

“We’ve had a very diverse group of speakers here today, and it has also been beautiful hearing all the different perspectives on this pressing issue,” she said. “That is so important to remember, to just … encompass all the voices, uplift all the voices, bring all of the issues to light.”

Linehan said that people should take it seriously when somebody comes to them saying they had an abortion. She asked that people not share their views on abortion with them, but instead listen to them.

Finally, Linehan said that one of the most pressing issues with the movement for her is that bans on abortions will not stop abortions. 

“One of the big issues that I’ve heard here that I think a lot of pro-lifers don’t understand is that regardless whether or not you put a ban in place, people are still going to have abortions, whether that’s (in) a safe way or an unsafe way,” she said.

CORRECTION: In a previous version of this post, Marie Isabel Pascual’s name was spelled incorrectly. The Daily Orange regrets this error.

Published on October 2, 2021 at 7:09 pm

Contact Kyle: [email protected] | @Kyle_Chouinard