<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Courtesy of the October 7, 2021 issue of the University of Idaho Argonaut at:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://www.uiargonaut.com/2021/10/03/moscow-womens-march-addresses-reproductive-issues/">https://www.uiargonaut.com/2021/10/03/moscow-womens-march-addresses-reproductive-issues/</a></div><div><br></div><div>————————————————-</div><div><br></div><div><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5rem; font-weight: 500; line-height: 1.2; font-size: calc(1.40625rem + 1.875vw); caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); color: rgb(33, 37, 41); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", "Liberation Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">Moscow Women’s March addresses reproductive issues</h1><p class="lead mb-0 pb-0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; font-size: calc(1.265625rem + 0.1875vw); caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); color: rgb(33, 37, 41); font-family: system-ui, -apple-system, "Segoe UI", Roboto, "Helvetica Neue", Arial, "Noto Sans", "Liberation Sans", sans-serif, "Apple Color Emoji", "Segoe UI Emoji", "Segoe UI Symbol", "Noto Color Emoji"; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; margin-bottom: 0px !important; padding-bottom: 0px !important;">Moscow joins in nationwide rally for reproductive rights after new Texas law</p></div><div><br></div><div><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">Saturday, dozens of community members gathered in front of city hall for the Moscow Women’s March. The march was organized as one of many across the nation in protest of Texas’s recent abortion law, which made it possible for citizens to sue other citizens for receiving, performing or assisting with abortion services. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">“There are a bunch of protests all across the country today,” University of Idaho student Lydia McRoberts, one of the organizers, said. “I asked the UI Women’s Center if there was one planned and decided we couldn’t not have one.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">However, not just members of the UI community were at the event. Holli Cooper and her daughter, Allie Syte, were also at the event after hearing about it on Facebook. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">“It’s an important day to get out and talk about reproductive health,” Syte said. “It affects everyone, young and old” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">After a few words from the organizers, the protest marched down to East City Park, where a selection of speakers were heard. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">Former District 5 Rep. Shirley Ringo spoke on her experience both growing up in the pre-Roe v. Wade era as well as her experience fighting for reproductive rights in the Idaho Legislature. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">“One of my frustrations at that time [in the legislature] was people wanting to enact their religion into law,” Ringo said. “They suspected that they were right, and that the rest of us should abide by it. It was a very arrogant thing to do.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">Neoshia Roemer, a law professor, spoke to the crowd about the potential of abortions becoming illegal in Idaho. Roemer said if Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court law case granting women access to abortion, was overturned, it would consequently stop abortions in Idaho. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">“One of the most important things that we can do to protect our rights, especially the right to abortion, is to continue to push at every level that we can to ensure that that right exists in our state laws,” Roemer said. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">Elizabeth Stevens, a faith leader in the Moscow community, vocalized her belief that consent to carrying a pregnancy is an important aspect in the discussion over abortion. Stevens also said abortion restrictions are desperate attempts by rich, white men to keep control over a culture that empowers them. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">“Reproductive freedom is part of one last desperate attempt to retain control and perpetuate multiple overlapping systems of oppression,” Stevens said. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">Katie Hettinga, a UI student and ASUI vice president, concluded the event by sharing testimony from submissions shared anonymously online. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">“We also need to value lived experiences,” Hettinga said. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">One testimony covered the journey of a trans-man looking to receive healthcare for a pap smear but being denied the procedure. They eventually found a doctor open to giving care and found cancerous cells, leading to a hysterectomy. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">Another testimony shared was from a woman whose baby suffered severe health defects during pregnancy and would most likely not make it to birth alive. She eventually made the decision to terminate the pregnancy because of the additional risk to her health. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">Several of the testimonies ranged in diverse backgrounds for people with inabilities to pay for an abortion or access to the procedure. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; margin-top: 0in;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">Protestors were also joined by the Moscow Volunteer Peace Band. Band Organizer, Fritz Knorr also drove home the importance of showing up. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">“You gotta show up to these things, politically,” Knoor said. “You might as well have fun doing it.” <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">March organizers included McRoberts and Christina Briggs-Mathers. Briggs-Mathers said that in a small town like Moscow and with the trigger bill that passed in Texas last month, the community needs representation. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">“If the Supreme Court doesn’t do anything about this, then we’re going to have the same kind of problem that Texas is having right now,” Briggs-Mathers said. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; font-size: medium; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41);">Briggs-Mathers was impressed with the turnout of people at the march and called for supporters to donate to abortion clinics and advocacy groups in the northwest. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><font color="#212529" face="Arial, sans-serif" size="4">————————-</font></p><p style="margin: 0in 0in 1rem; box-sizing: border-box; caret-color: rgb(33, 37, 41); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><font color="#212529" face="Arial, sans-serif" size="4">Photos . . .</font></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><br></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Argonaut/Argonaut_100721_01.jpg">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Argonaut/Argonaut_100721_01.jpg</a></span><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(33, 37, 41); background-color: white;">The final protestor enters East City Park</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Argonaut/Argonaut_100721_02.jpg"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Argonaut/Argonaut_100721_02.jpg</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250);">Former Rep. Shirley Ringo speaks to the crowd</span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Argonaut/Argonaut_100721_03.jpg"><span style="color: blue;">http://www.tomandrodna.com/Photos/Argonaut/Argonaut_100721_03.jpg</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNoSpacing" style="margin: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><span style="font-size: 14pt; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; color: rgb(85, 85, 85); background-color: rgb(248, 249, 250);">A protestor marches with a flag</span><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><br></div>————————————————-<br><br><div dir="ltr"><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">http://www.MoscowCares.net</span></div><div><br></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div><div>“A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met.”</div><div>- Roy E. Stolworthy</div><div></div></div></div></body></html>