More than 50 people gathered on Saturday at the corner of Sixth and Main Street in Longmont to commemorate the would-be 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
The Bigger than Roe Rally brought together activists with signs and chants demanding protections for abortion, organized in part by the weekly Longmont Leads with Love Vigil.
Roe v. Wade had provided constitutional protections for abortion and was overturned by the conservative majority of the U.S. Supreme Court last June.
Rep. Karen McCormick, who represents most of Longmont in the Colorado House, spoke to the gathering. She outlined the protections offered in the state through the Reproductive Health Equity Act, passed last year, along with the additional work still needed to further protect a person’s ability to make reproductive health care decisions without government interference.
“There’s more to be done,” she said. “As we know, we have about two-thirds of the people that are seeking abortion care in our state are coming from out of state, so we are a little overwhelmed but we are taking care of everybody.”
McCormick said there are three bills currently being worked on to further protect reproductive rights, including a package to protect patients and providers seeking and providing abortions in Colorado and another expanding abortion coverage by insurance.
The representative is personally carrying a bill addressing limited service pregnancy centers, also known as crisis pregnancy centers, to reign in deceptive trade practices.
“They’re directly or indirectly misleading people, delaying care, putting people in danger of furthering your health complications,” McCormick said. “If they are pretending like they are offering abortion care and emergency contraceptives when they don’t, we will be putting it into law as a deceptive trade practice.”
The group marched down Main Street in solidarity with other women’s marches across the country. Organizers said they were heartened on the snowy Saturday by the mostly positive reaction from drivers-by, with many honking in support of the protesters.
