Approximately 2,000 people braved temperatures in the 40s to gather at the state Capitol on Sunday in protest of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion across the country 47 years ago.
Arkansas Right to Life marked its 42nd annual March for Life in opposition to the ruling. Holding a variety of signs, protesters marched to the music of a bagpiper from a parking lot on Wolfe Street at the rear of the Capitol Mall to the back of the Capitol, then split into two groups that flowed around the state Capitol building and up onto the front steps.
Andy Mayberry, board president of Arkansas Right to Life, said prior to the rally that it is hard to gauge just how much progress is being made in the effort to overturn Roe v. Wade. He pointed out that the two most recently appointed justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, were selected to replace the late Antonin Scalia and the retired Anthony Kennedy, respectively, both of whom were appointed by President Ronald Reagan.
"One justice replaced one who was conservative and one replaced one who was back and forth," Mayberry said. "I look forward to the day when we have a Supreme Court that is solidly conservative and rules on the Constitution as it was written rather than adding words to it that were never there."
U.S. Sens. John Boozman and Tom Cotton and U.S. Reps. French Hill and Bruce Westerman attended the rally, as did six of the state's seven top elected officials and numerous members of the Legislature.
"I was with one of my friends that's very active in the pro-life movement in Washington last week, and I mentioned to him that I was going to be here," Boozman said. "He went on and on about the reputation that we have of this assembly being one of the great venues of its type around the nation."
Westerman called the political climate in Arkansas "as pro-life as any state in the country" but he said more work remains to be done on the national level.
"Not everybody values life like we do here in Arkansas," Westerman said. "But we know we're on the side of right. We're on the side of life."
Gov. Asa Hutchinson noted that he attended his first Right to Life rally on the Capitol steps 34 years ago.
"At that time there were zero statewide elected officials in Arkansas that would come here for the Right to Life rally," Hutchinson said. "You contrast that with today in which we have our federal delegation, our state constitutional officers, our legislators here that are here to say we support life."
Hutchinson added that for the third year, the anti-abortion advocacy group Americans United for Life has ranked Arkansas as the No. 2 state in the nation on its "Life List."
"Since I've been governor, scores of legislation has come across my desk that protects the unborn," he said. "Every piece of those legislation has been signed into laws here in Arkansas."
Hutchinson admonished the crowd to "continue working until Roe v. Wade is reversed."
The rally's featured speaker was Ryan Bomberger, an anti-abortion activist who was raised by adoptive parents. He was conceived when his mother was raped, and she gave him up for adoption.
Bomberger, who has drawn fire for an online column calling the NAACP the "National Association for the Abortion of Colored People," called abortion the leading cause of death among black people.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heart disease, cancer, and accidents are the leading causes of death among black people. The CDC considers abortion a medical procedure and not a cause of death.
Bomberger described his life growing up as the first of 10 adopted children.
"My family is possible because 10 courageous women chose to be stronger than their circumstances," he said. "Ten birth moms who chose life."
This Saturday, the Arkansas Coalition for Reproductive Justice will hold a rally at the State Capitol.
Camille Richoux, spokeswoman for the group, said that while the group advocates for the right to legal and safe abortion, it also advocates for a range of women's health initiatives.
"We're focused on reproductive justice in the state of Arkansas, which is a broad framework," Richoux said. "It's a framework that's founded by women of color who found that there's such a broad and complex history of reproductive oppression to understand, and this highlights the broad spectrum of reproductive needs for people. Yes, we advocate for the right to abortion, because bodily freedom and autonomy is a fundamental human right."
State Desk on 01/20/2020