April 27, 2024

On May 2, Politico released a leaked 80 page draft opinion from the Supreme Court that states their intentions to repeal Roe v. Wade leaving abortion access and reproductive rights in the hands of state representatives. 

The community of Lane County took action by staging an impromptu rally in defense of reproductive rights the very next day. The national group Women’s March put out a call to action for communities to take to the streets with their signs and voices against the Supreme Court’s decision. 

Over 500 protesters showed their support in front of the Federal Courthouse on May 3. Families, friends and individual activists chanted and cheered with pro-choice signs and pink garments getting cars to honk as they drove by.

“We have to be here one more time and I am sick of it,” Said Judy Ivey, Eugene local. “I am 77 and have been doing this for a long time. I want it to be over.” Ivey was accompanied by her daughter and her friend Chris Mills. “We came down and thought it was just going to be us,” Mills said.

Many people came to the courthouse not knowing if there would even be a protest since this was not organized by any local activist group, but to their surprise hundreds of protesters came and went before they marched to the City Park Blocks downtown.