The Orbis

Media Credit: Photo by Sarah Hargrove/Orbis Vandy students stand outside the Tenn. State Capitol to show their support for women's rights. [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Photo by Sarah Hargrove/Orbis Vandy Med students carry signs supporting the right to choose and keeping abortion legal. [Click to enlarge]

Hundreds of Nashville's citizens braved the winter weather last Saturday to mark an important date: the 32nd anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision. Pro-life protestors crowded around the steps of the State Capitol while pro-choice counter-protestors lined the street. Abortion remains a hotly contested topic, and with two bills going to the Tennessee Senate this month, both sides are preparing for a difficult battle.

These two bills, which have already passed in the House of Representatives as House Joint Resolutions, seek to modify Tennessee's Constitution so that it no longer "secures or protects the right to abortion or funding thereof." One of the bills gives the legislature the power to "make exceptions for situations involving victims of rape or incest or preservation of the mother's life;" the other does not list any such exceptions. Although the language of the bills does not specifically outlaw abortion, it denies state protection of a woman's right to choose, setting the stage for future laws that could ban abortion across Tennessee.

Tennessee Right to Life organized the pro-life protest, complete with prayers, songs and the Knights of Columbus in full regalia.

A large picture of a happy baby hung behind the speakers, and cases of booties that the "unborn children might have worn" lined the steps. The crowd carried red signs reading, "Stop killing children NOW!"

Along the street, counter-protestors carried their own signs. Organized mainly by Planned Parenthood and the Tennessee Guerrilla Girls (an underground, radical group of feminist activists), the counter-protestors were just as impassioned as the anti-abortion supporters.

Pro-choice women proclaimed themselves to be "Christians for Choice," and one member of Vandy Medical Students for Choice held a sign that said, "Not every ejaculation needs a name."

Vanderbilt students were well represented at the counter-protest. Both the Vandy Medical Students for Choice and the Vandy Fems brought groups downtown.

The Vandy Fems met at the Women's Center to make signs before the protest.

Sara Chasnoff, a Peabody junior, was pleased with the counter-protest's turnout. "It's important to have a presence to make our voices heard," she said.

With the re-election of Bush, abortion bills are likely to be brought to Congress on a national level as well. Pro-choice groups are gearing up for the battle ahead.

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