Protesters again gather at Capitol in Raleigh to decry Supreme Court abortion ruling

A crowd gathered at the state Capitol in downtown Raleigh Monday afternoon to protest the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

At 3:30 p.m., more than 100 people had joined the protest and more were arriving.

Those gathered were invited to step to the front of the crowd and share their own experiences fighting for reproductive rights, and to lead chants.

Kiara Sanders, 30, from Raleigh, said in the days since the ruling was overturned, she has seen transgender and nonbinary voices get erased from the conversation about reproductive rights.

“Keep talking about your experience and keep using your voice,” she said. “I just want everyone to keep using their voice because with what I see on TV — I want to see more people like what I’m looking at now.”

Emily Galvin, 42, of Raleigh, has had two abortions, a choice she said she always knew she would want to make. She spoke across from the Capitol in favor of abortion rights, saying she was thankful for the support of clinic escorts when she had both procedures done.

“My decisions to have those abortions were not hard choices,” she said. “I had an abortion because I did not want children. I have never, ever regretted those choices.”

Though organizers said they did not initially plan to March, volunteer marshals led the crowd up Fayetteville Street.

As they moved away from the Capitol, the crowd chanted “Keep abortion safe and legal,” and “My body, my choice.”

Francis Register, 19, of Raleigh, said that as someone who experiences depression and mental illness, a forced pregnancy would be life-threatening, as it would impact their regimen of mental health medication.

Many others nationwide, Register said, could be in the same situation.

“I’ve had to take plan B before, when I was 16,” Register said. “[If] I didn’t have access to that, I probably would have killed myself.”

Register called for politicians to support universal health care, reproductive rights and comprehensive sex education in order to show support for reproductive rights.

“This is all about power and control. They don’t care. We need to show them that they need to care. All these people, we care about life.”

After the pregnancy scare at 16, Register said, reproductive rights feel personal.

“If I had to have a child,” Register said, “It would have derailed my life drastically. I just never want kids. It’s not something I wanted to do with my life. If they’re pro-life, what about my life?”

Mackenzie Gan, 21, joined the protest from St. Louis, Missouri, the first state to pass a trigger bill on the day that Roe v. Wade was overturned.

She called on N.C. residents to support those from out of state who may be coming to visit abortion clinics in the coming weeks, and to take them in for a few days if necessary.

“Make yourself accessible, get to know your neighbors. This is a terrible time for all of us,” she said. “Educate yourselves and those around you and don’t give up the fight.”

Melissa Houghton, 51, from Smithfield, spoke to the crowd about her experience having an abortion after she was raped by two men at 17.

“I was lucky enough to be able to choose abortion when I wound up pregnant from that experience,” she said.

Houghton spent three days protesting outside the Supreme Court last weekend, and said she was upset to see the crowd get smaller every day. She plans to protest downtown weekly and urged people in the crowd to join and to continue the fight.

“What I’m looking at moving forward is a summer of rage,” she said. “Peaceful and inclusive, but rage.”