The battle lines were drawn as anti-abortion and abortion rights groups both held rallies at the University of Wisconsin Library Mall Saturday.
Saturday marked the one-year anniversary since the Madison Surgery Center voted to approve an abortion clinic that would perform second-trimester abortions.
Though no abortion procedures have occurred since the clinic was approved, anti-abortion organizers put together a rally opposing the decision and demanding the clinics removal in response to the anniversary.
When abortion rights organizers learned about the rally they put together an impromptu counter-rally of their own. As anti-abortion speakers prayed, sang and delivered speeches, the abortion rights group marched in circles around the crowd and shouted slogans such as “Keep your rosaries off my ovaries,” and “Not the church, not the state, women must decide their fate.”
Chris Slattery, a full-time anti-abortion activist from New York City, was there to speak about the surgery center and UW’s involvement.
“The UW needs to stop dead in its tracks now. This is our demand,” he said. “The university is going to fall if it continues to be in the baby killing business.”
The decision by the UW Hospital and Clinics Authority Board to support the clinic brought Slattery to Madison.
Slattery said ongoing protests are in the works to address what anti-abortion activists claim to be of utmost importance.
“We are planning 40 days of continual presence at the surgery center starting on Ash Wednesday,” Slattery said. “If they don’t change plans there will be an ongoing boycott of the UW.”
Kim Gasper, a member of the International Socialist Organization, was there to support the abortion rights rally. Gasper had an abortion when she was 26 and said she was not healthy or ready for children at the time.
“I owe no apologies, I did the right thing,” Gasper said. “I believe in free abortion on demand.”
Gasper added the right to choose is a matter of equality, and anti-abortion supporters are spreading hate against women.
“Women need to have complete control of their own bodies and access to birth control and abortion,” she said. “If these pro-life people want to help others, they should pack up and go to Haiti.”
Regardless of the pro-choice presence, Virginia Zignego, the spokesperson for Pro-Life Wisconsin, is happy with the success of the rally and previous protests they held within the last year.
“So far the surgery center has not performed an abortion,” Zignego said. “We like to think that our presence has played a part in that.”
She added that the issue is important for UW students because their demographic is the percent of the population that is most affected by abortion policies.
After the rally, the anti-abortion crowd marched down Lake Street to the surgery center on South Park Street. Yet, as the anti-abortion speakers wound down, the abortion rights rally made a preemptive move to beat them there, where the yelling, praying and slogan chanting continued for about an hour.
Zignego said abortion rights activists were attempting to drown out the demonstrations by anti-abortion speakers. She added that she felt abortion rights activists were disrespecting them with their actions.
“We are on the side of the abortionists too,” Slattery said. “We want to convert them.”
However, the abortion rights group was not there to be converted, but to voice its side of the issue.
“We’re just trying to show that pro-life is not the only voice. We have a stake in this too,” said Noel Benedetti, a graduate student at UW.
Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin Lisa Subeck said the demonstrations are intended to show UW support for services offered at the surgery center.
The weather was cold on Saturday, but the atmosphere was heated. There was a lot of shouting and a distinct difference in opinions. However, the day remained peaceful and without major incident.
Other than a disorderly conduct citation given to a man who took off his shirt and did a striptease on the small tower next to the Library Mall stage, there were no arrests.
