(VIDEO) What Does Choice Mean to You?

Despite the cold, a dedicated group of women and men, showed up at the steps of the Supreme Court at noon on January 22. I asked people what choice meant to them and snapped some pics of the rally.

While the annual March for Life on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade attracts hundreds of marchers to Washington, DC featuring people and children bused in from all parts, there is always a contingent of pro-choice demonstrators who show up to make sure their voices are also heard.

Despite the cold, a dedicated group of women and men, showed
up at the steps of the Supreme Court at noon on January 22 to celebrate the 37th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade. I asked people what
choice meant to them.

 

 

Laurette Cucuzza of Washington, DC said:

Choice has been very important in
my life. I am now a professional person but at 17 I was a dumb kid. And I got
pregnant and I had an abortion thanks to Planned Parenthood. And I was very
happy that I was able to make that choice because it allowed me to make
something of myself and my life. So I support women’s right to chose. I also
feel very strongly that sometimes women choose to have a baby, and I have done
that as well – later in life when I was ready.

Marc Levin, who was standing next to Cucuzza and who said he works with her,
said that as a man being pro-choice is just "being respectful to women."

"I’ll never have to get pregnant which is why it’s important
to stand with women," Levin said.

Brett Copeland, from Boerne, Texas, explained his reasons
for being at the rally. "I’m here for my mom, my sister and
someday my daughters. Choice to me just means letting women control their own
destiny."

A contingent of students from different universities were also
present, including representatives from the American University Students for Choice and
George Washington University Voices for Choices.

Amanda Pelletier is the co-director of the American
University Students For Choice group.

Choice to me means access to safe
and legal abortion. I think its very important that the post-Roe generation
cares about this issue very deeply. Although I didn’t grow up in a time where
abortion was illegal, my mom did. And she was a victim of that. And so I’m
standing up today for women like her and the women who are at risk for losing
the right to have a legal abortion.

Michelle Kinsey Bruns, a former DC resident who came down
from New Jersey, brought her Husky dog, decked out in sign "Huskies for Choice."


Pics from the rally.

"She loves the attention," Bruns said. "She’s a crowd
pleaser."

Polly Stamatopoulos, a DC resident, said she’s been coming
to the pro-choice counter rallies for the last 17 years with her partner.

I come out here because I think
abortion rights are some of the most important fundamental rights in this
country and we need to protect those. If we let those fall by the wayside then
of our rights are safe.