{"id":44389,"date":"2021-10-04T00:29:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-04T06:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hundreds-participate-in-downtown-durango-womens-march\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:18:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:18:52","slug":"hundreds-participate-in-downtown-durango-womens-march","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hundreds-participate-in-downtown-durango-womens-march\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundreds participate in downtown Durango Women\u2019s March"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Indivisible
Indivisible Durango hosted the Durango Women\u2019s March that began at 1:30 p.m. Sunday. More than 250 demonstrators marched from the Durango railroad depot to Buckley Park, where four speakers talked about women\u2019s reproductive rights and encouraged people to get involved in politics by reaching out to their elected officials at the local level all the way up to their federal congresspeople. (Christian Burney\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Chants of \u201cMy body, my choice!\u201d could be heard up and down Main Avenue on Sunday as activists marched from the Durango & Silverton Railroad Depot to Buckley Park in a peaceful demonstration that advocated for women\u2019s reproductive rights.<\/p>\n

The event was organized by Indivisible Durango, the local chapter of the national Indivisible group with more than 5,800 groups across the country.<\/p>\n

More than 250 people attended the women\u2019s march, with Indivisible Durango organizer Karen Pontius estimating that about 400 people showed up to join the demonstration in the park.<\/p>\n

The northbound lane of Main Avenue was blocked off by city staff members to facilitate the event, and Durango police escorted the procession, with one vehicle driving ahead of marchers and another trailing behind.<\/p>\n

The Durango Women\u2019s March followed similar marches held Saturday for women\u2019s reproductive rights that unfolded in cities across the nation. The Durango demonstration amassed at Buckley Park, where four speakers shared their personal stories and perspectives about a woman\u2019s right to choose whether to have an abortion.<\/p>\n

Several protesters carried signs referencing a restrictive Texas abortion law that went into effect Sept. 1.<\/p>\n

Last year, Colorado voters rejected Proposition 15, a bill that if enacted would have banned abortion procedures in pregnancies over 22 weeks in most circumstances.<\/p>\n

The speakers were Laurie Meininger, Debbie Myers, Lainey Severson and a woman who introduced herself simply as \u201cE.\u201d Teal Lehto, who emceed the event, also spoke briefly.<\/p>\n

\"Laurie
Laurie Meininger was the first of four speakers to address a crowd Sunday in Buckley Park. Meininger is the president of the League of Women Voters of La Plata County. She said women with control of their own bodies have the power to support their families and shape their communities, their countries and their futures. (Christian Burney\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Meininger, who serves as the president of the nonprofit, nonpartisan League of Women Voters of La Plata County, said in her speech that she was just nearing 16 years old in 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution protects a woman\u2019s choice to have an abortion \u201cwithout excessive government intervention.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said that freedoms hinge on women\u2019s ability to make choices and that society benefits when women have the right to be in charge of their own bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen women have access to family planning in whatever form it is that they choose, they go on to run countries and start businesses,\u201d Meininger said. \u201cTheir daughters stay in school. The trajectory of their lives, their communities, their nation changes because they have control over their own lives and their own bodies.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 Yet, here we are again,\u201d Meininger said.<\/p>\n

Meininger said more abortion laws have been passed in 2021 than in any previous year since 1973, which elicited boos from the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we gathered here would all agree: Bodily autonomy is a personal right,\u201d she said. \u201cThe League of Women Voters believe that every person has the right to access and privacy with their health decisions, including their reproductive decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meininger holds a master\u2019s degree in social work and public administration. Her last assignment was from the U.S. Department of State in which she was the acting ambassador for the U.S. Embassy in Freetown, Sierra Leone.<\/p>\n

Meininger has also served as the executive director of the Shanta Foundation based in Durango, which works to develop underserved villages in Myanmar to alleviate poverty. She has led multicultural teams across the world, including in Iraq, Latin America and Micronesia.<\/p>\n

Meininger encouraged attendees to use their vote to shape the future into one that is inclusive of women\u2019s right to choice and bodily autonomy. She said the impact people can make individually multiplies by the number of people whose lives are touched by the activists in attendance and said they need to spread their message beyond the confines of Buckley Park.<\/p>\n

\"Debbie
Debbie Myers has been a member of Planned Parenthood and Indivisible Durango for five years and a women\u2019s health nurse practitioner for about 30 years. On Sunday, she shared the personal story of a friend who had to go outside the law 50 years ago in Louisiana to have an abortion. (Christian Burney\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Myers, a five-year member of Indivisible Durango and Planned Parenthood, and a women\u2019s health nurse practitioner of 30 years, shared her personal story of a friend who needed an abortion at the age of 21, but who lived in Louisiana where abortion was illegal in 1971.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was on birth control pills, she was going through a very stressful time in her life, and she forgot some pills,\u201d Myers said. \u201cWho\u2019s ever done that before?\u201d<\/p>\n

One day, Myers\u2019 friend began experiencing cramps and visited the emergency room to determine if she was pregnant. Her test was negative, but sometime later, Myers said, her period never started. So she went to a gynecologist who informed her she was pregnant after all.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy friend, knowing that she was not in a financial situation or a life situation that would have been a responsible place to raise a child, decided that she needed to get an abortion,\u201d Myers said.<\/p>\n

The friend asked other friends for advice or references of where to get an abortion in Louisiana. Eventually, she started talking to sex workers about where and how to get it done.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, this story did have a good ending,\u201d Myers said.<\/p>\n

Myers\u2019 friend was able to have a safe abortion, unlike others who had to resort to \u201cback-alley abortions,\u201d she said. She elaborated, referencing one activist\u2019s sign featuring a coat hanger.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those of you who are younger who might have seen a poster with a hanger \u2026 women were so desperate that they actually used a coat hanger to try to get a baby, to try to get a fetus out, to try to have an abortion,\u201d Myers said. \u201cAnd they died trying because they hemorrhaged.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Lainey
Lainey Severson spoke at Sunday\u2019s Women\u2019s March in downtown Durango. She talked about the dangers she faced dealing with a stalker. Situations like that are another reason why women should have control over their reproductive rights. (Christian Burney\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Severson, a 2016 Fort Lewis College graduate who works in event coordination, shared her story of a stalker who threatened her physical safety and who she said could still threaten her safety and her life if he were to return to Durango.<\/p>\n

Severson said she had to get a restraining order against the individual and that if he were to show up again to pursue her and she ended up pregnant, she wouldn\u2019t hesitate to go out-of-state or even out-of-country to have an abortion performed, if the circumstances necessitated it.<\/p>\n

Severson said reproductive rights are not just for women, but for men also, and that the issue of reproductive rights also affects nonbinary communities. She also explained how Planned Parenthood, which is known for providing access to abortions and has repeatedly come under criticism by opponents of abortion, facilitates many more services for both women and men who have nothing to do with abortion procedures, such as cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and contraception.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sick of protesting this stuff, I\u2019m sick of standing up here talking about this,\u201d Severson said. \u201cIt\u2019s our body, our choice, and these people that are making these decisions are saying, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s my body, my choice, I\u2019m not going to wear masks, I\u2019m not going to get vaccinated.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Severson continued to illustrate the apparent irony of abortion opponents who use similar \u201cpro-choice\u201d arguments to justify foregoing COVID-19 vaccinations and said that people can\u2019t \u201chave it both ways,\u201d and that as soon as one takes another\u2019s rights away, they are signing up to have their own rights taken away, too.<\/p>\n

Lehto, the event emcee, announced that next weekend another demonstration is planned, Indigenous People\u2019s Day of Rage, which will kick off with a giveaway event at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Durango Transit Center that will transition into a march at 10:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

cburney@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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