SouthCoast Residents Rally in Support of Reproductive Rights

Men and women from around the SouthCoast region rallied Saturday afternoon at Buttonwood Park in New Bedford to keep abortion laws intact in the United States.

New Bedford was one of more than 600 communities nationwide to host such rallies. It came two days before the U.S. Supreme Court reconvenes and takes up a Mississippi case that would limit abortion after 15 weeks. The high court has already let stand a Texas law that bans abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy.

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The New Bedford rally was organized by the Woman's Alliance, a group representing several women's organizations in the area. Several speakers were critical of the conservative Supreme Court, saying a reversal of the historic 1975 "Roe vs Wade" decision could lead to the destruction of women's reproductive rights across the country.

Many of those attending the rally held signs saying "Abortion is Healthcare, We Won't Go Back. and Create Federal Laws for Women's Equal Rights." The rally concluded with a march around Buttonwood Park.

With rallies happening Saturday across the state urging abortion rights be protected, the Massachusetts Citizens for Life issued a statement, saying women are being lied to about abortion by politicians, the media and health care providers.

President Myrna Maloney Flynn said in an e-mail to the Boston Globe, "Women deserve to know the truth.  Abortion ends the life of a distinct human being, one who happens to be their biological child."

She went on to say, "While our neighbors march to defend this most abhorrent practice, Citizens for Life will never quit our work to defend the most basic of human rights among society's most vulnerable."