Crowd rallies in support of abortion rights in Anchorage

Crowds gathered at one of Anchorage’s busiest intersections Saturday afternoon to participate in a national day of visibility for abortion access that was hosted by Planned Parenthood.

People came out in droves to show support for safe and legal abortion and women’s reproductive rights during Saturday’s event, which was held in response to the leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion suggesting Roe v. Wade could be overturned.

Signs reading “Keep your laws off my body,” “Trust women” and “Bans off our bodies” were held up by participants lining the sidewalk along the Seward Highway and Northern Lights Boulevard in Midtown amid cheers and honking from passing drivers.

Saturday’s rally was one of hundreds across the country where abortion rights supporters spoke out against the prospect of the constitutional right to abortion being overturned and expressed concerns about its implications for women’s choices about their reproductive health.

In Anchorage, Telsche Overby stood among the crowd selling shirts that read, “(S)mother out the Patriarchy.” Funds from the shirts will go to a domestic violence shelter in the Matanuska-Susitna area.

Through love, compassion and education, Overby hopes to approach community change in a way that is nonviolent, she said.

View more photos from the rally below.