Residents and a handful of out-of-towners gathered in front of the Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church on the Common last Sunday to rally for women’s rights and continued access to women’s health and abortion services in Massachusetts following the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to deny the constitutional right to abortion and return regulation to the states.
The event drew more than 80 people on a warm, late-summer afternoon, and it featured appearances by U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, congresswoman for the 3rd District of Massachusetts; state Sen. Jamie Eldridge; and state Rep. Dan Sena. The three legislators were joined by Harvard school board member and pediatric nurse practitioner Suzie Allen and by two Harvard teens.
Residents listen to speakers at the rally. (Photo by Kate Wool)
“I’m glad you’re here and so sorry it’s necessary,” said Jen Manell, who served as master of ceremonies. “It’s hard to believe we’re here to defend a person’s right to their own bodily autonomy, and it’s hard to believe we’re still doing this, generation after generation.”
The rally was co-sponsored by the Social Justice Ministries Council of the UU church and by the League of Women Voters of Harvard. A handout informed attendees how to contact officials, talk to kids, or support organizations that provide health and abortion services; another handout invited attendees to join the league. Both are available at the league website.
League president Stephanie Opalka said the organization had two objectives in co-sponsoring Sunday’s event: to show support for keeping Massachusetts a safe place for women’s health, but also to connect with younger women who might not be aware that the league’s advocacy goes beyond empowering voters and defending democracy. Both the national and state organizations, she noted, had spoken out against the Supreme Court’s recent denial of a constitutional right to an abortion.
Signs and speeches
Before the speeches, a dozen people stood along the west side of Ayer Road holding printed and hand-drawn signs declaring “Women’s rights are human rights,” “My body, my choice,” and “We’re Ruthless now; act accordingly.”
The speakers steered mostly clear of politics, choosing to focus instead on the problems that the Supreme Court decision creates for women in crisis and those who provide health and abortion services. Manell, Allen, and the two teens told personal stories that highlighted the need for abortion services when pregnancies go wrong and for agenda-free counseling when they are unexpected. The two teens spoke of harassment and their fears of sexual assault and rape, and they urged more comprehensive sex education in schools.
Allen said it was important to support the clinics in Massachusetts that provide comprehensive reproductive care, such as Planned Parenthood, which are already seeing longer wait times due to rising out-of-state demand for their services. Such clinics, she said, are the best sources of information for women in crisis.
Eldridge praised the bipartisan measures passed by the Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Charlie Baker this summer, but said there was more to do. It was an “embarrassment,” he said, that Massachusetts didn’t offer science-based sex education in every public school. He predicted that protecting the rights of transgender people would be the next battleground.
In the most political speech of the afternoon, Trahan said that while it’s easy for Massachusetts women to think they don’t need to worry about having their rights taken away, Republicans in Congress were prepared to pass federal legislation that would ban most abortions nationwide and overturn the protections Massachusetts legislators had worked so hard to pass. “We cannot, we will not let them win,” she said.
But it was Harvard teen Ellie Maglothin who delivered the most passionate appeal. “We live in a state where our human rights are protected,” she said. “I am not encouraging you to be grateful. In fact, be furious because human rights are something we should be able to take for granted.” After urging that schools provide sex education that goes beyond biology to teach how to “prevent, fight and report rape” or how to access health care and abortion services, Maglothin concluded: “If you have money, donate it; if you have resources, share them; and if you have power, wield it. And if you have none of these, you have a voice—raise it.”
State Rep. Dan Sena, U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan, state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, Faith Cross, and Janice Goodell listen and wait their turn to speak. (Photo by Kate Wool)
