‘We don’t feel free.’ Hundreds rally for abortion rights during July 4th celebrations in Lexington
While some were donned in red, white and blue in downtown Lexington for the celebration of Independence Day, others wore black and marched in opposition of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Music played for the city’s Fourth of July festivities, but chants could be overheard from the Kentucky for Reproductive Freedom group — “Abort the Court,” “Our bodies our choice” and “This is what democracy looks like.”
The event began at 9 a.m. Monday outside of the Fayette County Courthouse on North Limestone and continued throughout the day.
Hundreds of protesters pointed to Fourth of July party-goers and shouted, “This is what hypocrisy looks like.” Many felt the Fourth of July was not something to celebrate after women in America lost their rights to bodily autonomy.
Aly Whitman, the protest event organizer, said she created the event because she “never really felt free in the country.” Growing up in Dayton, Ohio, Whitman moved to Lexington three years ago.
“As long as I can remember and ever since I was a youngin’ I have never felt free,” she said. “I grew up in a low-income community with a lot of poverty, and a lot of communities of color who were struggling from drugs and police brutality and my Black friends have not felt free their entire lives.”
She said it felt like a “slap in the face” for people to be out celebrating the holiday at the courthouse.
“It’s hypocrisy. You want to say you are pro-choice and you support us all, then you are out here giving them exactly what they want, and they are capitalizing on that,” Whitman said. “That is not what we are here to do. We don’t feel free and we don’t want to celebrate a country that is taking away rights.”
For now, abortions are allowed to continue in the state of Kentucky after a Louisville judge granted a restraining order on June 30 which blocked Kentucky’s “trigger law” banning the procedure. The restraining order will be in place until at least July 6, when Planned Parenthood and EMW are scheduled to appear again to make a case for why the law should be more permanently blocked.
One protester, who declined to be named and called herself a “concerned health care provider,” of Lexington, said she heard of the event via a Facebook post.
A nurse for 41 years and nurse practitioner for 24 of those, she said her entire career has been in women’s health, sexual health, and reproductive health and gender health care.
She felt the ban was a way for legislators to have a “hot topic” to secure reelection. In regards to the juxtaposition of the protest taking place simultaneously to the Fourth of July festival, she said it was “poignant.”
“If all people are created equal and have their rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, then they are disenfranchising a whole group of people,” she said. “It is alright for them to say, ‘We can do whatever we want and have guns and shoot up everyone we want to’ but I can’t decide what to do with my body? They have taken away our rights. They have taken away the rights of my daughter, my granddaughters and the rights of my patients.”
Ryann Akolkar, of Lexington, brought her husband, two daughters and son to protest for women’s rights.
“It was a no-brainer (to come out),” Akolkar said. “We want a place in the world where everyone has a choice for their own body and their reproductive rights. But I feel a special hold to this for my own daughters and to show my son how men need to be respecting women and people who have uteruses, and respect others and our choice. That is why we felt it was so important for us to be here.”
This story was originally published July 4, 2022 at 1:59 PM.
