More than 100 picket in Ottawa for pro-choice, contraceptive rights

A crowd of protesters organized by Stand With Planned Parenthood Ottawa founders Nicole O’Shea and Rachel Dutton lined La Salle Street along Washington Square in downtown Ottawa on Wednesday in light of the Supreme Court’s leaked draft that would overturn Roe v. Wade, in turn allowing states to outlaw abortion and restrict contraceptive rights.

The crowd about 120 people chanted “My body, my choice” and called for activism in response to the leaked decision put forth by Justice Samuel Alito.

“We’re here to spread a message, not fight with people,” O’Shea said. “Today’s focus is, of course, Roe v. Wade. We are here speaking despite the fact that it is not in danger in Illinois. Just because we live in a state where it’s not in danger doesn’t mean it won’t be in the future, and it doesn’t mean we don’t care about women that don’t live here.”

A counterprotest of about 15 people appeared across the street, holding signs indicating they’re pro-life.

The concern for O’Shea and for many others is the removal of Roe v. Wade, a 50-year-old precedent that has many other Supreme Court decisions tied to it, will cause a backslide in other rights, such as rights to contraceptives.

“The opposing side’s argument is that [Planned Parenthood of Ottawa] gives women the abortion pill, which they do supply there,” O’Shea said. “But these people don’t believe we should even have birth control at all.”

Lisa Dahl, of Oglesby, said she is emphatically pro-choice, although that doesn’t necessarily mean pro-abortion. She believes women should have the ability to make a decision for themselves and the government does not and should not hold the power to make that decision for her.

Part of Roe v. Wade enshrines a right to privacy when it comes to this decision, and Dutton said the law was written purposely vague in case someone wanted to strip that promise later.

Dutton attended the rally because 92.7% of abortions (per the CDC website) are carried out before 13 weeks, with any later abortions being performed to save the mother’s life.

“We’re not here to protest late term abortion,” Dutton said. “We’re here to make sure that choice doesn’t go away.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct a previous version of this story which transposed comments from Lisa Dahl with those of Rachel Dutton.

Joleen Gunuski said the overturning of Roe v. Wade would remove a woman’s bodily autonomy to a point that corpses have more rights.

“Nobody is actually a fan of just killing babies,” Gunuski said. “I don’t think anyone’s doing that. It’s a straw man. It’s a logical fallacy.”

Peggy Larson said the only way to fix this is to make the rest of the country like Illinois: Codifying Roe v. Wade into law would prevent the Supreme Court from stripping this right and sending the country back in time.

Dutton agreed, and said the next step is to support Gov. JB Pritzker, who has vowed that he will do everything he can to keep abortion legal in Illinois.

“I don’t think there is any other way,” Larson said. “I mean, how are we going to fix it besides that? The Democrats need to stop the filibuster and codify it. Otherwise, we’re going to go back to back alley abortions and women are going to die.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct a previous version of this story which transposed comments from Lisa Dahl with those of Rachel Dutton.