As the anniversary of the legalization of abortion approaches, the fiery and passionate debate over the Supreme Court decision continues across the country, including in Chicago, where dueling marches will unfold downtown this Sunday.
The March for Life, led by abortion opponents, will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. beginning at the Federal Plaza, going past the Thompson Center and City Hall, and returning to the plaza.
Meanwhile, the counter-protest called the March for Abortion Rights, organized by the Feminist Uprising to Resist Inequality and Exploitation, will take place at 1 p.m. Sunday outside the federal courthouse.
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“We want to mark with sadness the legalization of abortion. We want every woman and man in an unplanned pregnancy to know no matter what obstacles they’re facing, we will be there. We will be warm and welcoming, and we will be there to support you,” said Emily Zender, president of March for Life Chicago and executive director of Illinois Right to Life.
Counter-protest organizer Lauren Bianchi said, “As a feminist and somebody who supports reproductive justice, this event really gets in my craw that they have so many people and have marched every year unopposed.”
She hopes to show on Sunday that there are people who unapologetically support abortion rights and reproductive freedom, want funding for clinics and fight the stigma of abortion.
Although the Roe v. Wade decision to legalize abortion came down on Jan. 22, 1973, the debate over it remains a hot-button topic. In November, three people were killed at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado by a man who, after his arrest, said he opened fire there because the facility was “murdering little babies.”
Nationally, 1 in 3 women will have had an abortion by age 45, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit which studies sexual and reproductive health. In Illinois, 44,580 women in 2011 had abortions—a rate of 17 abortions per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44, which is in line with national statistics. That’s a decrease of 18 percent for the state since 2008. Illinois abortions accounted for 4.2 percent of all abortions in the country, Guttmacher data showed.
Abortion is an issue that is top of mind for elected leaders, as President Obama this month vetoed legislation that would have defunded Planned Parenthood, an abortion provider. Planned Parenthood also is legally challenging a handful of states for cutting off its Medicaid funding.
The women’s health care provider came under attack last year when undercover videos by anti-abortion activists alleged that the organization was looking to profit off fetal tissue donation from patients for medical research. Planned Parenthood said that the videos were heavily edited, the accusations were false and it will no longer accept reimbursement for fetal tissue.
The March for Life, in its 11th year in Chicago, is expecting to attract 5,000 people or more who are getting bused in from states all over the Midwest. The pro-abortion rights protest, in its second year, is expected to be smaller, drawing about 300 people, organizers said.
Despite disagreeing strongly on the issue, neither side wants to interact with the other, they said.
“We’re not there to antagonize them or confront them. We’re just there to do our march and celebrate life,” Zender said. “What being pro-life is about is treating every person with value and with equal worth.”
Bianchi disagreed: “I would say that being anti-abortion is not for life. We’re actually pro-life because we recognize if you do care about women’s lives, if you care about black people’s lives, if you care about children’s lives, then you’re going to be out there protesting police brutality and school closings and advocate for abortion rights because these things are necessary for making people’s lives livable,” she said.