On Friday, June 24, the Supreme Court announced their ruling in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization case, overturning the constitutional right to abortion decided in Roe v. Wade, 1973, and further protected in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, 1992. The decision kicked off a weekend of protests from abortion rights activists and allies across the nation.
In Albuquerque, hundreds of protesters, University of New Mexico students and other community members gathered in Tiguex Park Friday night to express their anger at the decision.
UNM student Joliana Davidson expressed her anger over the decision and how it will affect people with uteruses’ bodily health.
“In some cases, people just cannot have children and it can literally kill women. I think it’s disgusting and it’s terrible, and I’m here to show support for the people affected by this,” Davidson said.
Community member Emma Kelly expressed similar frustration with the decision, and emphasized the importance of protesting and offering support to those most affected by the overturning.
“I'm disheartened. It was hard to have to come today. I think a lot of people aren't gonna show up anymore because it's exhausting, (but) we have to. We have to,” Kelly said. “Women like myself have the resources to get an abortion if needed, and many many many do not … New Mexico has an opportunity here to become a safe haven state … We need to develop to protect our neighbors in Texas and Arizona … We need to protect our historically marginalized sisters and their right to a life without children.”
Davidson agreed that the issue was an intersectional one.
“This ruling is a direct attack on people of color and people that don’t have the resources to travel elsewhere to get abortions,” Davidson said.
Shane Hall, a male-identifying UNM student, shared the value of using one’s personal privilege to work to protect the rights of others, specifically in response to the attack on abortion rights.
“I’m glad we live in New Mexico where it’s not as dangerous and it’s a lot more Democratic, but (losing abortion rights) is always a possibility … I think it’s important for me to stand with people who are my friends, who can get pregnant and won’t be able to get those abortions in certain states,” Hall said.
Avery Quijano, a UNM student who plans to work in healthcare, shared that they believe that more could be done — both by the politicians and people.
“We need our power in numbers,” Quijano said. “And if we don’t have enough people showing our support, then it’s almost like we’re not doing as much as we could do … because it could get worse, especially in this state.”
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Friday night, Associated Students of UNM President Ian May and Vice President Krystah Pacheco released a statement expressing their support for the students impacted by the decision.
“... We remain dedicated to securing the needs of undergraduate students at UNM. At all levels of advocacy, student issues will remain at the forefront, including reproductive rights. This includes our lobbying efforts at the New Mexico Legislature and conversations about accessibility to UNM’’s health resources,” May and Pacheco wrote.
Victoria Trujillo, president of UNM’s Students for Life chapter, a conservative group associated with Turning Point UNM, saw the statement as a reason to work harder to share her group’s anti-choice message.
“I just want to get the word out about, you know, the horrors of abortion and all the tragedies and all of the hurt it’s done … My goal and my intention in this post-Roe America, as it always has been, is to provide those resources to show that there are so many other options, and that hasn’t necessarily changed at all … If anything, I’m going to be a little bit more charismatic in actually sharing that information and trying to get it out,” Trujillo said.
For resources concerning abortion and reproductive health, students can contact the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline at +1 (833) 246-2633. Other resources can be found through the ACLU and the National Abortion Federation.
Spenser Willden is the culture editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @spenserwillden
