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February 1, 2025
Nebraska's Religious Right is preparing for its biggest rally of the year, and they're in a celebratory mood. The Walk For Life is an annual protest against the right to abortion and birth control that is always scheduled to be near the anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which finally made abortion legal nationwide. Unfortunately Roe has been overturned, and restrictions on abortion access have been passed in the Nebraska legislature. Last year's elections didn't go our way either, with the ballot initiatives going the wrong way at the poll and Donald Trump returning to the White House. So how are we, the pro-choice majority in Nebraska, going to respond?
The next Walk for Life is coming to the Nebraska State Capitol on Saturday, February 1st, 2024, at 10:00 AM. The "pro-life" crowd will once again get on their buses and travel all over the country to promote their sexist, theocratic agenda. They'll have a big pep rally on the north steps of the Capitol, and all the leading Republican politicians in the state will be there to address them.
And we, the pro-choice Nebraskans, will be there to counter-protest them! We will promote bodily autonomy and a person’s right to reproductive freedom, including access to abortion. We will remind them that we are still here, and that we are not afraid of winter weather.
We will once again be meeting on the north side of K Street across from the north steps of the Capitol. We will be between Centennial Mall (aka 15th Street) and 16th Street. We are often in front of the government office building at 1526 K Street. After the Republican pep rally ends at the Capitol, their folks are going to march down the middle of 14th Street to additional indoor programming at the UNL Student Union. When they march down 14th Street, we will march alongside them on the sidewalks on the east side. We will conclude with a small rally on the sidewalk south of the Union at 14th and R Street. Some of the anti-choicers go right inside to the Union for their additional programming, some will get back onto the buses to take them home, and some will linger outside a while and want to argue with us. While we'll be outdoors the whole time, we'll also be standing next to a large, concentrated body of people who are proven to not care about the safety and health of others. Wearing a mask is recommended.
Pro-choice Americans have spent the last half-century relying upon the fragile law of Roe to protect reproductive freedom, but it is now gone. It is long past time for those who believe in bodily autonomy (including access to abortion) to rebuild a mass movement in the streets. We need people to show up and protest the Walk for Life!