By GARLAND KENNEDY
Sentinel Staff Writer
Braving the windy and rainy weather Tuesday afternoon, a group of about 20 Sitkans gathered at the roundabout to demonstrate against the apparent intention of the U.S. Supreme Court to repeal the right to abortion guaranteed by the court’s 1973 ruling in the landmark case Roe v. Wade.
In a significant breach of precedent on Monday, what appears to be a draft copy of a Supreme Court decision was leaked to the public. It indicated that a majority of the court has already agreed to repeal Roe as part of the court’s decision in a Mississippi case now before the court, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski told reporters Tuesday that the leaked decision “rocks my confidence in the court right now.”
In 2020, Murkowski expressed confidence that then-Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett would not vote to overturn Roe. But in the leaked draft, Barrett appears to be one of the five justices supporting the decision.
Standing with the group at the Sitka traffic circle Tuesday, Sotera Perez expressed concern that the conservative-leaning court might not stop at Roe.
Sitkans hold signs at the Sitka Courthouse Tuesday afternoon during a rally to support reproductive rights. A Supreme Court draft opinion recently leaked to the media would throw out the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights ruling.
(Sentinel Photo by James Poulson)
“I think that the endgame of this SCOTUS is not abortion,” Perez told the Sentinel. “The end game of the SCOTUS is systematically dismantling rights that they feel other people shouldn’t be entitled to. And I think that Roe v. Wade is going to be the domino that knocks everything down.”
She carried a homemade sign that read, “They aren’t going to stop at Roe v. Wade.”
Not far from Perez, Bo Ihde, 18, carried a sign that borrowed a line from Revolutionary War era Gadsden flag, “Don’t Tread on Me,” but with that flag’s rampant rattlesnake twisted into the shape of female reproductive organs.
“I didn’t want it to be too boring,” Ihde said of their sign. “I kind of wanted it to stand out more. So I thought the ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ would be really funny. I’ve seen a lot of like memes of different variations.”
Whether or not a person becomes a parent should be a matter of choice, the protesters said.
“It’s pretty basic health care and there’s a lot of shame around it,” Ihde said. “But in the world we live in, I think it should be a choice whether or not you want to be pregnant, a choice whether or not you want to be a parent.”
A number of passing vehicles honked in support of the protesters.
Muriel Reid held a two-sided sign that read, “Pro-life is anti-woman, pro-life is anti-science.”
“There’s a lot of hypocrisy in the pro-life movement. Really they’re pro-pregnancy,” Reid said. “Are they pro any sort of life after that pregnancy? No, they’re not. There isn’t a lot of movement for supporting parents, single parents or low income parents who have children that maybe they weren’t planning. That support needs to be there, and also the support for having contraceptives.”
Clarice Johnson said she was not shocked by the opinion indicated in the leaked document, citing the influence of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization with ties to six of the nine members of the court.
“I wasn’t surprised. I think that we’ve seen the Supreme Court with the Federalist Society, it’s been building up to this for decades. And the power structure has developed to make this possible. This is their aim, and I think one of my reactions was more concern for not only all the women that this will affect, but the interpretation of how not respecting the privacy of American citizens may also extend to other changes to the laws.”
Her sign said, “Keep abortion safe, legal and accessible.”
“Regardless of whatever the court decides, abortions will happen,” she said. “History has shown that women will die if they’re forced to go to their own methods or shady doctors and try to be secretive about it. It’s a health care procedure and it needs to be done safely.”
