Abortion activists, rivals rally nationwide
SEATTLE: Anti-abortion activists emboldened by the new administration of President Donald Trump staged rallies around the country on Saturday, calling for the federal government to cut off payments to Planned Parenthood, but in some cities counter-protests dwarfed the demonstrations.
Thousands of Planned Parenthood supporters, many wearing the pointy-eared pink hats popularised by last month’s women’s marches, turned out for a rally in St Paul, Minnesota, separated by barricades from an anti-abortion crowd of a couple hundred people.
In Detroit, about 300 people turned up outside a Planned Parenthood office, most of them supporting the organisation. In St Louis, thousands marched, many carrying pink signs that read: “I stand with Planned Parenthood.”
“They do a lot of work to help women with reproductive health — not just abortions, obviously — but they help with birth control and cancer screenings and counselling and a whole variety of services, and it seems they’re under attack right now, and that concerns me greatly,’’ said Kathy Brown, 58, who attended the St Paul rally.
Andy LaBine, 44, of Ramsey, Minnesota, rallied with abortion opponents in St Paul. Mr LaBine, who was there with his family, said he believes Planned Parenthood is hiding “under a veil of health care”.
“I personally believe that abortion is a profound injustice to the human race,” he said.
In one of his first acts as president, Mr Trump last month banned US funding to international groups that perform abortions or even provide information about abortions.
Vice-President Mike Pence strongly opposes abortion, citing his Catholic beliefs, and the newly confirmed health secretary, Tom Price, has supported cutting off taxpayer money to Planned Parenthood.
Federal dollars don’t pay for abortions, but the organisation is reimbursed by Medicaid for other services, including birth control and cancer screening.
Anti-abortion conservatives have long tried to cut Planned Parenthood funds, arguing that the reimbursements help subsidise abortions.
Planned Parenthood says it performed 324,000 abortions in 2014, the most recent year tallied, but the vast majority of women seek out contraception, testing and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, or other services including cancer screenings.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says defunding plans would cut roughly US$400 million in Medicaid money from the group in the year after enactment, and this would result in roughly 400,000 women losing access to care services.
Republicans would redirect the funding to community health centres, but Planned Parenthood supporters say women denied Medicaid services from Planned Parenthood may not be able to find replacement care.
At the nonprofit’s New York headquarters, supporters outnumbered a group of 50 abortion rights opponents by a ratio of three to one, and thousands rallied separately at Washington Square Park to support Planned Parenthood.
In the Seattle suburb of Kent, 300 supporters turned out, as opposed to a couple of dozen opponents, Komo-TV reported. By contrast, in the deeply conservative western Iowa city of Council Bluffs, two dozen anti-abortion demonstrators drew no counter-rally.
Outside a Planned Parenthood clinic in the Dallas suburb of Plano, about 20 antiabortion protesters gathered. They bore signs reading “Abortion Kills Children”, “Pray to End Abortion” and “Men Regret Lost Fatherhood”.
Nearby, Anthony Hodgson, 57, held a sign with a message saying “Pray to End Abortion”. “I believe it’s not right. God told us, ‘Thou shalt not kill’,” he said.
In Detroit, Jill Byczek, 59, said she felt empowered after attending the recent women’s march in Washington.
Wearing a pink shirt that said “My Body My Choice”, she said Planned Parenthood stands for “so much more” than abortion services.