Rally shows support for abortion amendment
A few hundred people gathered Sunday afternoon at the state Capitol to show their support for the Arkansas abortion amendment, which would place a limit on abortion restrictions in the state.
The event, hosted by Arkansans for Limited Government, was aimed at encouraging people to sign a petition to get the amendment on the ballot for the election in November.
The crowd was filled with homemade signs, including those reading “Keep Healthcare Private,” “Against Abortion? Get a vasectomy” and “Stars. Stripes. Reproductive Rights.”
Across the street, however, a group of roughly 40 anti-abortion protesters silently held their own signs. A majority of them said the same thing: “Decline to sign.”
While the protesters remained silent, Myron Yancy did not.
For a short period, the Little Rock native stood by himself on the sidewalk in front of the Capitol, addressing the group.
He never elicited a response.
Yancy said the “freedom of being” was one reason why he was attending the rally.
“These (protesters) are here right now telling people what to do and how to be,” Yancy said. “And growing up in the church, and being around something like that, and having someone take advantage of kids, it really just hurts me because there’s so many people that are trying to … place religion in something like this. It’s really about individuality and what was right for these people, be it spiritual, be it religion,” he added.
Another amendment supporter, Micah Qualls of Benton, said it was “disgusting” to see the number of women among the anti-abortion protesters. “Normally, we square off against dudes,” she said.
“I’ve been politically ac
tive since the 90s and the 80s, really, when I was a child,” Qualls added. “But it’s usually men — street preacher types — that come to these types of things.”
A retired teacher, Qualls is a supporter of “all leftist things,” but abortion “is particularly personal” for her.
“The government doesn’t own anyone’s bodies, much less women,” Qualls said. “And because abortion is healthcare, abortion saves lives … I’ve been fighting abortion forever, but I never thought it’d be overturned.”
Yancy was also there to support his husband, Dr. Chad Taylor, who was one of the speakers at the rally, as were Dr. Janet Cathey and Rev. Ryan Davis.
Taylor is an obstetrician and gynecologist at the Women’s Center in Little Rock, while Cathey is a retired obstetrics and gynecology specialist.
During her speech, Cathey addressed the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022 via the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and the recent ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court that declared frozen embryos created for in vitro fertilization treatment are children.
“We need the Arkansas abortion amendment because these people we fight, they have no end point,” Cathey said. “IVF is not an unexpected outcome. Because we know that they are not about celebrating life … what they want to really celebrate is power, and they want to shame women. They want women to have children, and they want to shame women when they are unable to have children.”
During Taylor’s speech, he addressed the relationship between women seeking an abortion and their doctors.
“Abortion is complicated, right?” Taylor said. “But that’s why decisions about abortion need to be left to patients and their trusted doctors, not legislators. You have to earn your place to be in that room, and one thing I can tell you for certain, those white, male legislators haven’t earned their place in that room
“So maybe abortion isn’t really that complicated at all,” Taylor added. “It’s healthcare. Let me say it again for the people in the back. Abortion is healthcare!”
Taylor was referring to the group of anti-abortion protesters.
Among them was Pyrce Renfroe of Russellville.
“It’s pretty straightforward, we don’t think that abortion should be legal in Arkansas,” Renfroe said. “It’s not been the law in Arkansas for a couple of years now. We’ve got resources like pregnancy resource centers … that are working to provide women with the supplies and equipping them to be parents and families. There’s resources other than ending the life of a child available to the people of Arkansas.”
The Arkansas abortion amendment proposes restricting the state’s ability to limit abortions before 18 weeks after fertilization or in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly, to protect the mother’s life or from physical harm.
Currently, Arkansas law bans abortions except in cases of a medical emergency to save the life of the mother. The state’s abortion ban took effect in June 2022 after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which paved the way for states to ban the procedure.
Specifically, the amendment states that the state “shall not prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion services” in cases of rape, incest, fatal fetal anomaly or to protect a woman’s life or “a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury.”
To make the ballot, a constitutional amendment needs at least 90,704 verified signatures from registered voters, which has to be turned in to the secretary of state’s office by July 5.
Under Arkansas law, the attorney general has the authority to certify, reject or rewrite ballot language for a proposed amendment.
Attorney General Tim Griffin twice rejected ballot language for the amendment, citing details in the proposal that were unclear or misleading. He finally approved the amendment in late January.
Gennie Diaz, a spokesperson for Arkansans for Limited Government, is confident “we’re going to get on the ballot” come November.
“The group that was doing the referendum on (the LEARNS Act), a lot of their same core people are with us,” Diaz said. “They have been really critical to establishing our infrastructure, bringing their knowledge, organizing power. They did that in a matter of weeks.”
When asked if there was anything Diaz wanted to tell the silent protesters across the street, she said, “I appreciate them being here, exercising their First Amendment right.
“One thing that we would like to communicate to the public is that signing this petition is not an endorsement of the Arkansas abortion amendment at all” Diaz said. “Signing the petition is saying you believe in the direct democracy right to have citizen-proposed constitutional amendments and initiated acts get on the ballot.”