Photos by Stephonia Taylor McLinn
Hundreds of women gathered in Kelly Ingram Park in downtown Birmingham on Sunday, May 19, for a March for Reproductive Freedom rally. It was one of five sister marches held in Montgomery, Huntsville, Mobile, and Florence.
“The passage of Alabama’s HB 314 demonstrates the complete lack of concern state lawmakers have for the lives of our state’s pregnant people, children, families and communities,” said Amanda Reyes, president of Yellowhammer Fund, which provides assistance to individuals in Alabama with barriers to abortion access. “Abortion isn’t just the last resort of irresponsible teens. More often than not in Alabama, it’s a decision made by people who already have children and are trying their best to provide for them in the face of a state legislature that is continually chipping away at our education, healthcare and social welfare systems.”
Organizers from Yellowhammer Fund, Hometown Action, POWER House, Unite for Reproductive & Gender Equality (URGE), Planned Parenthood Southeast, Emerge Alabama, the ACLU of Alabama, Ordinary People’s Society, and NARAL partnered to host the marches and rallies in response to House Bill 314, the near-total ban on abortion bill.
Brit Blalock, political organizer and graduate from Emerge Alabama (which trains women to run for office), said, “We refuse to sit idly by while lawmakers in our state attempt to strip us of the right to make our own medical decisions.”
