More than 150 people demonstrated in support of reproductive rights in Minocqua Saturday.
Their voices joined a chorus of protestors nationwide for a day of action dubbed Bans Off Our Bodies.
It’s a reaction to the leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion suggesting the court might soon overturn Roe v. Wade and allow states to restrict or ban abortions.
“Even here in soaking red northern Wisconsin, people care about this,” says Tara Woolpy, who helped organize the march in Minocqua through the Northwoods Progressives and the Democratic Party of Vilas County.
Woolpy says speaking up at this time is imperative.
“We need to get out and speak because we can’t let this right go,” she says. “I am way past reproductive age, but my daughters, my granddaughters, they need the right to control their own bodies.”
Many of the women at the march waved signs with hangers on them, symbolizing unsafe abortion practice.
Some said they marched for their mothers and grandmothers who died or suffered from unsafe abortions before Roe v. Wade. They fear those practices could return.
The Supreme Court’s final decision on abortion rights is expected within the next two months.
If the court does decide to overturn Roe v. Wade, a 173-year-old abortion ban would go into effect in Wisconsin. Under that law, doctors who provide abortions could spend up to six years in prison.
Woolpy says she and others who care about the issue are preparing to march again.