Despite the frigid air on Saturday, Jan. 21, a vibrant crowd assembled in Market Square Park. A rainbow array of signs flooded the downtown plaza as people filed in.

More than 100 supporters took part in Saturday's protest, listening to speakers, and marching in the street. It was a display of peaceful protesting and camaraderie that the winter weather couldn't chill.

They gathered to protest the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in June last year to overturn Roe V. Wade which protected a woman's right to an abortion. Saturday's event was exactly 50 years after the constitutional right was originally guaranteed in 1973.

Robert McDonald, an activist for Rise Up 4 Abortions, stood in front of an informative display, clutching a poster in one hand and a stack of chartreuse flyers in the other.

McDonald said that his bright green exhibit pays homage to Argentina's women’s rights movement, which is marked by The Green Wave. The color became a symbol for the cause when women from countries where abortion is outlawed needed a way to see and be seen.

Image

^{Activist Robert McDonald handed out informational flyers at the women’s rights rally
 on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2023, in Cleveland’s Market Square Park. (credit: Karyssa Rose)}

McDonald wended his way through the crowd handing out green-paisley bandannas to mark what would have been the 50th anniversary of Roe V. Wade. His mission was to spread information in support of the cause.

“We want everyone to know that green is the color of pro-choice,” McDonald said. “The movement in Argentina is doing better than our own, which is shocking.”

McDonald was just one of many like-minded people who saw the Supreme Court's decision as a blow against fundamental human rights, especially a woman's right to control her own body. 

The decision is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half the states, including in Ohio which moved quickly to ban most abortions. A federal judge put that decision on hold as a constitutional challenge is heard. Republican Attorney General Dave Yost has appealed to the Republican-controlled Ohio Supreme Court to block the federal judge’s order.

Ohio Democratic Sen. Nickie Antonio rallied the protesters with a passionate speech about uniting as a community to tackle social justice issues. She spoke about how we must look after our democracy by committing ourselves and others.

“When you plant seeds, do you walk away and say ‘I hope that all works out?’ No,” Antonio said. “Our democracy is the same way. We plant the seeds but then we have to tend it – we have to take care of it.”

The Ohio senate minority leader, a Cleveland State University alumna, said that the senate has only just begun drafting legislation for this year. 

“We always introduce legislation with women’s issues in mind,” Antonio said. “We are developing new strategies to support people that can get pregnant.”

Kathy Coleman, the organizer for Cleveland’s Women’s March, has assembled these rallies since 2018. She hopes that her iron-willed activism will draw in more significant, and younger, crowds.

“I have organized around excessive force and women’s rights for years,” Coleman said. “If I quit, they’re gonna be in trouble.”

The protesters marched from Market Square through the streets of Cleveland with signs and megaphones in hand. Robert McDonald left a vibrant trail green flyers and bandannas in his wake.

“The answer is to legalize abortion again,” McDonald said, the Supreme Court's decision was "a crime against women."