Hundreds of protesters gathered at the Historic Metro Courthouse in downtown Nashville on Friday evening to protest the end of legal abortions in Tennessee.
Carrying signs reading “Abortion is healthcare” and chanting “Hands off, Our bodies,” marchers made their way from Legislative Plaza to the Metro Courthouse a little after 5 p.m.
Rachel Iacovone WPLN NewsSign-carrying rallygoers gathered outside the Metro Courthouse, just hours after the official ruling came down.
The Tennessee Attorney General is asking the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to lift an injunction on a 2020 law banning abortions after 6 weeks — before many know they are pregnant. He also moved to trigger a 30-day period before all legal abortions are outlawed in the state.
Rachel Iacovone WPLN News (File)The timing of the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on abortion rights coincided another allowing less regulation of guns in public spaces. Many signs at the downtown Nashville rally alluded to that.
Rachel Iacovone WPLN NewsMany in the crowd recorded video and took photos on their phones to post live from the rally to their social media accounts.
Many abortion rights supporters expressed dismay at the reversal of a 50-year precedent enshrining a women’s constitutional right to abortion.
“When I was a teenager, I remember going by the abortion clinic, and people yelling at those going in and intimidating women,” Nashville resident Jack Willey says. “And it really turned my stomach when I found out what was happening … And as a parent, it’s important to me that my children know that they should respect women’s bodies. They should respect everyone’s bodies and the decisions they make.”
Rachel Iacovone WPLN NewsA rally sign left outside the Tennessee Capitol as the crowd moved to the Metro Courthouse
“It’s never about just the one thing,” Toni Thomas, another protester, says. “This is about disenfranchising people, whether it be when it comes to their bodies, to healthcare, to education, to keeping people where they are, so a certain subset can always stay where they are.”
She says she watched her mother protest in support of abortion rights and will continue herself.
Rachel Iacovone WPLN NewsA mom walks up to the gathered group in front of the Metro Courthouse with her young daughter in tow. She carries a sign that reads “Our daughters deserve better. Period.”
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