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Hundreds Rally For Abortion Rights At Statehouse

RaeVen Ridgell speaks to a crowd outside the Statehouse at an abortion rights rally.
Brandon Smith/IPB News
RaeVen Ridgell speaks to a crowd outside the Statehouse at an abortion rights rally.

Hundreds rallied at the Statehouse Tuesday as part of a coordinated effort to protest anti-abortion laws nationwide.

The rallies are a response to recent legislation in states like Alabama and Georgia – some of the most restrictive and punitive anti-abortion measures in decades.

READ MORE: Protesters In Fort Wayne Write Letters As Part Of The "Stop The Bans" Movement

Simone Bailey says the need for the rallies is not just about other states. Bailey was a college student when she had an abortion. And she told the crowd she never paid much attention to reproductive rights issues before that.

“Especially here in Indiana, it’s really disturbing what they are saying about people like me and people like all of you who feel like it’s my right and it’s your right to decide what you want to do with your body,” Bailey says.

Speakers at the rally urged the crowd to get involved, to vote and to contact elected officials, as RaeVen Ridgell did when she gave out Gov. Eric Holcomb’s office number.

“You call him and you call him and you call him until he gets it," Ridgell says. "Because it seems like he doesn’t.”

Holcomb has signed into law four anti- abortion  measures since he took office.

Brandon Smith has covered the Statehouse for Indiana Public Broadcasting for more than a decade, spanning three governors and a dozen legislative sessions. He's also the host of Indiana Week in Review, a weekly political and policy discussion program seen and heard across the state.
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