LOCAL // HOUSTON

Roe v. Wade protest draws thousands of concerned Houstonians

Marissa Luck, Houston Chronicle
May 7, 2022 | Updated: May 7, 2022 8:38 p.m.


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A woman in the crowd with a “Come and Take It” sign during an abortion rights rally organized by Beto O’Rourke at Discovery Green on Saturday, May 7, 2022 in Houston.

Karen Warren/Staff photographer

Thousands stampeded through sweltering heat in downtown Houston to protest the potential unraveling of Roe v. Wade at a rally headlined by gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke.

O’Rourke’s team said numbers swelled from 4,000 to nearly 5,000 people who gathered at Discovery Green Park, although Houston Police did not have an official crowd estimate. Protesters expressed shock and anger at the draft Supreme Court opinion leaked last week, indicating the landmark court ruling could be overturned. A so-called “trigger law” in Texas would make abortions illegal within 30 days of the court tossing out Roe v. Wade.

Natasha Klimas, 33, said has never been the type to attend protests but the shock of the news pushed her to come out. ... “A lot of people around my age don’t know what it’s like without Roe v. Wade. It’s scary,” she said. She carried a poster with wire hanger taped onto it and the phrase: “This is the Republican health care plan.” Klimas, a physician who lives near Rice University, said she’s worried about how overturning Roe v. Wade will impact women and trans-female’s access to reproductive healthcare.

Bella Thomas and Jaylen Gregory, both 18 year-old students at Clear Brook High School in Friendswood, held bright pink signs that read: “Against abortion? Get a Vasectomy!” and “Don’t Tread on Me” with a snake in the shape of a uterus. They said they both know girls who were too scared to tell their parents they were pregnant and instead tried to force a miscarriage by taking drugs or binge drinking. ... Banning legal abortions “is not going to stop abortions. It’s going to stop safe abortions,” Gregory said.

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Written By
Marissa Luck

Reach Marissa on https://twitter.com/marissaluck7

Marissa Luck covers real estate for the Houston Chronicle. Originally from Hawaii, Marissa previously covered refining and chemicals for the Chronicle and also had stints at Costar, the Austin Business Journal and The Daily News in Longview, Wash. She grew up near Seattle and studied international political economy at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash.

Abortion Rally Draws Thousands in Houston

The event was among numerous protests planned across the country this weekend.

By Maria Jimenez Moya, Scott Atkinson, Robert Chiarito and Lola Fadulu
May 7, 2022

HOUSTON — Several thousand people in Texas’ largest city rallied for abortion rights on Saturday, one of numerous demonstrations held across the country days after a draft opinion from the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade was leaked. They were joined by a host of Democratic officials, including former Representative Beto O’Rourke, who is running for governor.

The rally in Houston, at Discovery Green, a downtown park, might have been the largest gathering of the protests that were scheduled in more than a dozen cities and communities on Saturday. They varied widely in scale and attendance. A morning event outside a Catholic church in Manhattan drew dozens of people. A demonstration in downtown Detroit featured roughly 200. A rally in Chicago attracted more than a thousand.

Many more protests were planned on Sunday in cities including San Jose, Calif., Kansas City, Mo., Fort Wayne, Ind., Oklahoma City and Orlando, Fla. Next weekend, thousands could gather in Washington for the Women’s March.

In Houston on Saturday, some in attendance took advantage of the rally to turn it into a family outing. Marco Barbato, 35, an engineer, brought his 4-year-old daughter so she could see how democracy worked and witness people standing up for what they believed in, he said.

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Speaking after the event, Mr. O’Rourke said he had been moved by hearing the personal stories of so many women. “People’s lives are on the line now, and I’m going to do everything in my power to fight for them,” he said after the event. During the rally, he was joined by speakers that included U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee, Texas State Senator Carol Alvarado and the mayor of Houston, Sylvester Turner.

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