Women and men of all ages gathered at the Madison County Courthouse on Saturday for a Women’s Rights Rally. A brief rainstorm kept numbers down initially, but soon there were dozens of people carrying signs and chanting ‘bans off our body’.
Michelle Gore was at the rally and remembered being in high school when Roe V. Wade passed. She said she attended the rally for the younger generation.
“I have two daughters and two granddaughters and they’re never going to know what I have known for all my reproductive years and so, I’m here for them. And just that it’s not right and we have to say something. We have to do something,” said Gore.
Gore said she hopes the Richmond community will see there are people in the central Kentucky county willing to fight for women’s rights.
Hannah Bingham is a high school teacher in Madison County. Bingham has lived in central Kentucky for eight years, but is originally from Chicago. Illinois is the only border state where abortion protections are in place. Bingham said she’s grateful she has connections there and could make the trip north if she needed to. She said not having that must be very scary.
“It is not an easy trip as far as like financially, we’re talking about gas prices. Somebody who suddenly needs to have this procedure, its not really an easy thing to throw together and find somewhere to stay and know where you’re going and know who you’re going to,” said Bingham.
Bingham added it’s important for people in other states to see that Kentuckians are part of the fight for reproductive rights. The rally was coordinated by the Madison County Democratic Party. Organizers say this weekend’s rally was the first of many.
