Planned Parenthood might have been closed for Presidents Day, but about a dozen protesters still showed up to rally both for and against abortion rights on Monday.
Abortion rights opponents are having a 40 Days for Life event from Feb. 14 until March 25, in which protesters are asked to be at clinics around the country for as much time as possible.
During the same time frame, the groups Reproaction and the Guild of Silly Heathens plan to counterprotest from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. each Monday. Members of the group wear costumes such as a unicorn head or a giant vulva.
Shelley Botts, a member of the Guild of Silly Heathens, said the group tries to keep the atmosphere light. One member on Monday carried a sign reading “Honk if you’re horny.”
“We try to make the opposition uncomfortable,” one group leader, Renee Maxwell, said.
Members of the Guild of Silly Heathens say they want to be a visible presence for the support of abortion rights.
“Abortion is health care,” Botts said. “We don’t want to go back to the days where people died because of a lack of health care, a lack of abortion services.”
The abortion rights opponents plan to protest every day until March 25, from around 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Protester Mary Hoffmeyer said there are protesters at the local Planned Parenthood practically every day of the year, just not for the whole day.
While protesting, abortion rights opponents handed out pamphlets listing resources for new and potential parents.
“We just want to give people a chance to think and see what’s out there,” protester Carol Fick said.
