DALLAS — Thousands of people gathered in downtown Dallas on Saturday to rally for reproductive rights and to demonstrate against Texas’ new law that heavily restricts abortions.
The afternoon rally was one of hundreds planned to coincide with the national Women’s March in Washington, where Texas’ recently passed law, known as SB 8, was a focal point for protesters and speakers.
The nationwide events came a day after the Justice Department argued before a U.S. district judge in Austin that Texas’ near-total ban on abortions is unconstitutional. The department said that SB 8, which outlaws abortions six weeks into pregnancy — before many women know they are pregnant — violates Supreme Court precedent that grants the right to have an abortion.
In Dallas, demonstrators filled Main Street Garden Park, with many carrying signs bearing messages like “Let’s talk about the elephant in the womb,” “I love someone who had an abortion,” and “My vagina, my choice.”
About a dozen anti-abortion protesters shouted different messages from in front of the UNT Dallas Law Center. “You’re fake Christians!” was one chant. A street preacher with a megaphone told those in the main rally that they were bound for hell. And someone else screamed that the demonstrators had never known death or battle, prompting Jayne Richardson, who came to the rally from McKinney, to yell: “I’m a veteran!”
Richardson said she gave a child up for adoption years ago. While abortion wasn’t the right choice for her, she said, she drove to the rally to support others’ right to get the procedure.
“I’m pro-life for me and pro-choice for the rest of the world,” she said.
The opposing groups chanted and yelled back and forth across Commerce Street. When a group of abortion-rights ralliers began walking across the street toward the counter-protesters, plain-clothes police officers told them to go back.
While emotions were high, the two sides remained peaceful.
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