October 3, 2021

"Three separate marches — all tackling different elements of the abortion debate — filled Capitol Square with thousands of people Saturday afternoon."

"A group of individuals chanting 'abortion is a human right, not just for the cis(gender) and white,' led the charge up State Street, while a larger group, attendees of the 'Bans Off Our Bodies' march trailed about a block behind. At the Capitol, the two groups were met by the tail end of a march organized by Pro Life Wisconsin. Pro-choice and anti-abortion protestors thrust signs at one another, but aside from some shouting between individuals, there was little confrontation."


It so happened I walked down to the Capitol — the Wisconsin Capitol — yesterday at about noon. I only saw the pro-life rally, so that's what you see in my photographs:

IMG_7567

IMG_7570 

I wasn't deliberately highlighting men's bodies, so don't imagine that I intended any sort of satire or was angling for some "men in shorts" humor. I simply walked straight up the stairs and stood where I wasn't in the group or intruding on them and tried to include signs. 

41 comments:

loudogblog said...

Maybe you showed up when the "thousands" were on lunch break.

Mark said...

Looks like they also brought their older kids to the rally, too.

Any of the giant images of fetuses or are those out of style now?

mikee said...

Has any person, any at all, ever said publicly that a pro- or anti-abortion march made them change their mind about the abortion issue?

So what is the point of these marches? Other than self-aggrandizement, I see none. Money, somehow? Power, somehow? Please, tell me. I've seen them all my life, and they haven't made any sense to me at all, at all.

Lurker21 said...

A rally for birthing people's right not to give birth seems paradoxical ...

Bender said...

Over the past couple of months, including yesterday, what I have noticed most about the fight for continued prohibitions on protecting human life, with the prospect of Roe being overruled, is the Silver Blaze hound (the dog that didn't bark).

Bender said...

Aside from the rabid, mouth-foaming pro-aborts, most folks in the country would might call themselves "pro-choice" are simply shrugging their shoulders at the prospect of Roe being overturned.

Michael K said...

Abortion is the sacrament of the leftist religion.

gilbar said...

'abortion is a human right, not just for the cis(gender) and white,'
So, abortion is for black men? Good to know!!! That's actually; Exactly what i thought

Anchovy said...

Marching is an excellent way to decrease the need for abortions.

Anchovy said...

Marching is an excellent way to decrease the need for abortions.

David Begley said...

They all missed the Badger game.

gspencer said...

'Bans Off Our Bodies'

Except when it comes to vaccines.

rhhardin said...

They'll find a lot of republicans on their side too.

JZ said...

Abortion has become acceptable and it makes me sad. We have videos of the abortion providers bargaining for better deals so they can sell infant livers. We have pictures of baby bones found in dumpsters. The Hyde amendment is a relic of the days when the federal government didn’t fund abortions. And abortions are now performed up to the moment of birth. The callousness of the culture proceeds. What are we to do?

Ceciliahere said...

Yeah, marching and birth control. I was married for 45 years and got pregnant exactly one time, when I wanted to. My husband and I had a very active sex life but we were always sure to use birth control. Because there are so many birth control options today, I don’t understand why there are so many unwanted pregnancies. Are people just irresponsible or do they think that abortion is a good birth control method? In the case of rape or incest, I can understand an unwanted pregnancy and the need to abort. But, I have very little sympathy for women who have multiple abortions because either she or her partner did not use birth control. Women take charge of your life. Do NOT have sex if a guy does not wear a condom or you aren’t using some sort of birth control, but if you do, take the morning after pill. This is the 21st C not the 1950’s.

John Althouse Cohen said...

“God is pro-life”

All evidence to the contrary?

Blair said...

It's fascinating to see how the baby butchering movement is dealing with intersectionality, just for the ironic comedy value of it all. A movement that has its roots in literal white supremacy pretending that it's always been easier for white women to get abortions that black women, or um... men... It would be hilarious if it didn't involve dismembering human children with forceps, or deliberately poisoning them and flushing them down the toilet after.

I'll bet this is providing a few drops of relief on Margaret Sanger's tongue while she roasts in her current abode.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The left 20 years ago: "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrement"

The left today: What do you mean "if men could get pregnant" ๐Ÿคจ

Chris Lopes said...

"So, abortion is for black men?"

I don't know about abortion, but birth control (as practiced by the Birth Control League, Planned Parenthood's grand dad) was originally promoted to limit the number of black (and anyone else who didn't look like them) men.

Tank said...

“ mikee said...

Has any person, any at all, ever said publicly that a pro- or anti-abortion march made them change their mind about the abortion issue?

So what is the point of these marches? …”

The point is to let pro life people know that they are part of a movement and are not alone.

Mea Sententia said...

I am pro-life because of two people. First, a student in my college speech class who gave a speech arguing that human life begins at conception. I learned later she was Catholic, but she gave no religious reasons for her position; she focused on evidence and logic. (I connected the dots later and concluded that human rights should begin when human life begins.) The second person was Richard John Neuhaus, who wrote that pro-life is the liberal position, because liberalism is an ever widening understanding of the community for which we all take common responsibility. I have no opinion on the Texas law, and I've never been on a march, but when the matter comes up I know in my heart of hearts which side I am on, and it is because of these two people.

Robert Marshall said...

Mikee asks: "So what is the point of these marches?"

The point is to lay the political groundwork for what should all along have been a political/moral judgment: WHEN, in the continuum from conception to birth, is it permissible to kill an unborn child?

In the event that this question is remitted back to the people of the states, through the overturning of Roe and its progeny, these marches will make a lot more sense in hindsight.

So this is preparing the ground for that possible outcome. Better for all sides to have expressed their views in advance, because if that happens, the legislatures will be expected to be prepared to make law of some sort or another, and fast.

I suspect that if and when legislatures are allowed to act, there will be a line drawn somewhere between the moment of conception, and the onset of labor, as the demarcation between lawfully-permitted abortion on the one hand, and unlawful taking of life. That line probably won't be the same in New York as it is in Texas. Some may howl, but you know, that's why we have moving vans. Live where you like the way of life.

Maynard said...

I don’t understand why there are so many unwanted pregnancies. Are people just irresponsible or do they think that abortion is a good birth control method?

There are young women who believe that to be prepared for intercourse (i.e., use birth control) is a bad thing vs. having spontaneous sex.

And

RMc said...

So what is the point of these marches? Other than self-aggrandizement, I see none.

Unlike the various 'race' protests, which wax and wane, abortion is eternal (at least as long as the country is 50/50 on it). You have to be the correct side, and you have to keep proving you're on the correct side, every minute of every hour of every day.

BUMBLE BEE said...

FFS! This is the 21st century, drones, self driving cars civilians riding into space and back, and 2-way wrist radios. We've had reliable free birth control for the last half century, everywhere. What is with these baby killers? They'll be haunted on their death bed wondering about the helpless ones they've killed.

Narr said...

Shorts on guys don't bother me, but sockless? That's just gross.

As pathetic as these displays are, the worst are the stupid marches against crime. Our local news stations feast on these sorry people and their homemade signs shuffling through the 'hood, as if the gangbangers and thugs are even awake during the day to see them.

When you consider that the gangbangers and thugs are their kids and grandkids it's even more pitiful.

Big Mike said...

@Althouse, trying to play Jane Goodall?

Terry Ott said...

Hey Mikee, to your question: “Has any person … ever said publicly that a pro- or anti-abortion march made them change their mind about the abortion issue?” I seriously doubt it.

But, I HAVE changed my mind in a sense. Used to think these marches demonstrated that freedom loving people can openly advocate conflicting views. Now I think these marches mostly show that huge numbers of people are willing (and even eager) to waste their time, year after year, milling about with signs and songs and chants with no evidence that anything they express will have one iota of impact on the ground.

Are they crazy, misguided, irrational? . No way I could judge them as such — not until I'm willing to apply those terms to people (like me) who regularly engage in similar ritual nonsense at sporting events.

Narayanan said...

Chris Lopes said...
"So, abortion is for black men?"

I don't know about abortion, but birth control (as practiced by the Birth Control League, Planned Parenthood's grand dad) was originally promoted to limit the number of black (and anyone else who didn't look like them) men.
-----------
some[white]body took Mandingo seriously

gilbar said...

cr said...
Richard John Neuhaus, who wrote that pro-life is the liberal position

If you look at MOST liberal positions
civil liberties; such as free speech, association, religion, etc
less government oppression
tolerance of opposing thoughts
live and let live and open mindedness in general

you'll see that One side in America is in Favor of those things
the other side MADE the KKK, and segregated government, and Wants (Demands) you to conform

The thing is: Progressives are NOT liberals. Progressives are reactionaries, that want to return the world to the 19th century

Caroline said...

@cr, well done.
I was going to say something snarky about pro-aborts copping a “human right” to eliminating an inconvenient human being, but your testimony is so much better.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

cr, seconding Caroline: Well done. Especially Richard John Neuhaus, who wrote better on that subject than anyone I know of.

For me, abortion was a nothingburger of an issue when I was a teenager. I think the thing that changed my own mind was a speaker at UC/Berkeley. I didn't actually hear her -- she was not permitted to speak, this in the land of the Free Speech Movement, in the mid-80s -- but the thing was, she was an opponent of abortion b/c she had personally survived one. She was evidence of a crime that the pro-abortion forces think is not a crime.

(There are more cases like hers. I particularly remember a woman who sued her abortionist because her baby was born alive, but missing an arm, forceps being what they are. Not sure which was the greater crime in her eyes: having a maimed baby, or having a live one. To this day, the standard treatment for infants born during "botched" abortions is no treatment at all, which ought to be, and technically is, illegal everywhere: A live-born infant is a human being, not "products of conception" or what have you, and any doctor's first responsibility is to the patient in most distress, which is obviously the newborn. If mother and infant both need care, then other physicians ought to be called in, but you do not just dump the infant in a broom closet until it's dead.)

I'm married to a man who thinks abortion should be available right up to birth. We agree to disagree on some subjects, and agree wholeheartedly on a great many. That one we just don't discuss any more.

wendybar said...

What Ceciliahere said...@ 2:28 pm!!!

Hear!! Hear!!!

wendybar said...

You can say the same about Climate Change marches...gun marches ect...ect..ect... So everybody should just stay home, shut up and never protest ever. These marches don't change minds.

tim in vermont said...

Human sacrifice has always been with us.

Achilles said...

Narr said...

Shorts on guys don't bother me, but sockless? That's just gross.

What do socks do?

Most peoples shoes are too thick and cause their feet to sweat.

I will grant that with a good hiking boot you need to pair the socks with the boots for fit and effectiveness.

But for walking around town minimalist shoes are the best way to go.

narciso said...

abortion, destroys the foundation of society, the 55 million who were victims, could have had two fold generations, it is the worship of moloch, it is part of the reason why the incessant demand for illegal immigration, the devaluation of life,

PM said...

Why raise babies when we can substantially increase our population with fully-realized people from other countries?

Narr said...

Achilles asks, "What do socks do?"

They keep my feet more comfortable than otherwise, and absorb sweat that might otherwise go into the shoes.

OTOF, some people wear socks in bed. That's also gross.

Meade said...

John Althouse Cohen said...
“God is pro-life”

All evidence to the contrary?
————————————
A fair question if you believe in God. If you don’t believe in God, aren’t you just trolling those who do?

Skippy Tisdale said...

FUCKING WITH IMPUNITY AND WITHOUT CONEQUENCE IS A CIVIL RIGHT!