Abortion rights activists march in Nashville's 'Bans Off Our Bodies' rally

Caroline EggersWPLN News

“Bans Off Our Bodies” protestors met at the Legislative Plaza in downtown Nashville before marching to the federal courthouse on Church Street on May 14, 2022.

Abortion rights activists gathered Saturday in downtown Nashville to demonstrate as part of the “Bans Off Our Bodies” rallies in about 380 locations nationwide.

The protests were in response to a leaked draft of a U.S. Supreme Court opinion indicating the court may overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision making abortion a constitutional right. Earlier this week, the U.S. Senate failed to pass a bill that would have set a nationwide right to abortion.

Sponsors of the event include Planned Parenthood Action Fund, MoveOn, the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Abortion Rights Action League.

In Nashville, more than a thousand protestors gathered at Legislative Plaza before marching to the federal courthouse on Church Street.

Folks carried colorful, hand-painted signs while sweating heavily in the nearly 90-degree weather, chanting “my body, my choice” and “hey hey, ho ho, Judge Alito has got to go.”

Leah Griffith and Nellie Renwick, of Nashville, both demonstrated on Saturday.

“I want to be a mother one day,” Renwick said. “I’m here in support of anyone with a uterus, basically, whose rights are being questioned.”

“It’s movements that work, not individual people,” Griffith said. “In Tennessee, our votes don’t matter very often with the representation we got. But we still have to show out, not just for women’s rights but everyone’s rights.”

Kirsten Deitelhoff said that, at age 51, she is in disbelief about the situation. Nearly three decades ago, she had an abortion when she was a senior in college.

“It was a February. I was going to graduate in May, and I had tons of debt. There was no way,” she said. “I didn’t want to bring a kid into the world that I couldn’t give a good life to.”