Hundreds of protestors gathered in downtown Knoxville on Friday in response to a decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. In an opinion split along conservative and liberal lines, the court overturned the 1973 decision which established a constitutional basis for the right to an abortion.
Chief Justice John Roberts voted in the majority 6-3 opinion to uphold Mississippi law, but voted against the conservative wing in the 5-4 decision to overturn Roe and Casey v. Planned Parenthood.
Though a leaked draft of the court opinion by Justice Samuel Alito was published in May by Politico, the news of the historic abortion ruling sent shockwaves across the nation, inciting anger in advocates for abortion rights who had warned about the fragility of Roe in a conservative court and celebration among anti-abortion advocates who had fought for decades to overturn Roe.
The opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization returns the legality of abortion to the states. 13 states, including Tennessee, have “trigger bans” – or anti-abortion laws on the books which will go into effect shortly following the ruling. Tennessee law will ban virtually all abortions once a trigger law goes into effect in 30 days.
Tory Mills, a patient escort for Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health (KCRH) and former director of community engagement for Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi, announced a rally of Knoxville community members to advocate for abortion rights, which was to begin at 5 p.m. in Krutch Park.
Parallel to the rally, a crowd had already gathered to watch a bicycle race that sped through downtown, organized as part of the 2022 USA Cycling Professional Road National Championships. Their eyes would soon shift from pedalers to protestors, as more and more people began to arrive at Krutch Park.
As rally attendees arrived, they received a greeting and were offered a free tee-shirt by organizers, which read “bans off our bodies.” They were also offered free sheets of cardboard, upon which attendees were encouraged to make their own signs of protest.
Representative Gloria Johnson, serving District 13 for the Tennessee State House of Representatives, showed up at the protest to grieve with those present, and to offer guidance and advice.
“What’s going through my mind is that basically the Supreme Court of the United States just said that women are not equal,” Johnson said. “That is what they said.”
According to Johnson, Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery is attempting to rush the implementation of Tennessee’s “trigger ban,” which is set to go into effect 30 days after the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Slatery has requested the state appeals court to implement a six-week abortion ban “as soon as possible.”
Johnson said that young people, including students attending UT, should make their voices heard should they wish to see change.
“We need to show up, we need to speak up, we need to let them know that this is putting people’s lives at risk,” Johnson said.
Shortly before the protest began, an organizer announced that snacks, sunscreen and water were also available for those in need, encouraging the crowd to stay hydrated during a day when outdoor temperatures reached 94 degrees.
Mills spoke to protestors with the service of a megaphone so that she could be heard over the noises of the city. The crowd exceeded 200 attendees at the start of her speech.
“I have been working with a small grassroots group here in Knoxville to coordinate this event,” Mills said. “Unfortunately, we knew that this day was coming. I’m looking out and I see so many familiar faces, and in some ways that gives me so much joy, because we have such a strong, beautiful, bold community.”
Mills said she was standing outside of the KCRH when the news broke, and that she went inside to gather and cry with the other staff members.
“I want to make some space to grieve for a moment,” Mills said. “We have to grieve, this is part of the process.”
Mills asked for volunteers from the crowd to come and sing with her. After a brief moment of silence, she led the protestors in a congregational chorus, singing “We will not, we will not, we will not be controlled. I am sovereign in my body, I am sovereign in my soul.”
This chorus echoed seven times, bringing several to tears.
“I think there’s also a lot of us here tonight, who maybe along with our grief, or who have moved through our grief because we saw this coming, we are in a state of rage,” Mills said. “Y’all I have been so mad for so long, and I know you have too. And so I think it’s important tonight that we make room for rage. Because rage without action eats us. But rage, with action, wins.”
Though Mills proceeded to lead several chants, she encouraged participants to know what they can do next to fight for the rights to an abortion, a fight she claimed could take as many as 20 to 30 years.
“What matters most tonight, is that every single person here knows what they can do next, and next after that, and next after that,” Mills said. “Folks need access, right? People are going to wake up tomorrow morning in the state of Tennessee and they are not going to be able to get an abortion. That is a fact. That means they need to know what to do.”
The rally then changed tone, becoming less of a protest and more of an educational convention under Mills’ eye. She asked that those in the crowd who felt adequately educated in the realm of sexual education, come forward and gather so that those who don’t might learn from them.
Dr. Aaron Campbell, the medical director for the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health, came forward to speak to the crowd soon after.
“I am Knoxville’s local abortion provider,” Campbell said. “Thank you all for coming out. This is devastating, but now is not the time to sit down. Now is the time to fight.”
Shortly after Campbell’s comments, Mills dismissed the crowd to educate themselves on sexual reproduction and government advocacy. However, one protestor shouted, “Flood the streets,” shortly thereafter, prompting a wave of people to enter nearby Gay Street, marching and chanting.
The march held hundreds at its peak, with signs held aloft and voices elevated so that all of the downtown area could hear their message. For over an hour after the crowd dispersed, protestors remained, networking and sharing their experiences.
Katie Leming, a senior at Maryville College, said she checked her phone first thing Friday morning and saw the news.
“I just went back to bed because I couldn’t handle it,” Leming said. “A lot of growing up here, being a young woman in Tennessee is finding ways to shut it out so that you can survive and exist and then the other part of the time is coming to stuff like this, talking to people and saying this is wrong.”
Recent UT alumni Alyx Boyt and Maya Rao attended the protest together. Rao, who graduated with a degree in geography and sustainability, said she and Boyt were shocked at the news that the overruling had become official.
“We didn’t really mourn or cry about it. We were in total shock…this is the experience that so many other people are going through that are getting their rights taken away,” Rao said. “It’s so important to show that sense of community with others that are going through the same thing. It’s awful what’s happening.”
Rao said the arson that destroyed the Planned Parenthood of Knoxville on New Year’s Eve last year and the anti-abortion protestors who frequently gather outside the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health on Clinch Avenue (KCRH) had made access to a range of reproductive health services difficult even before Friday’s ruling.
“It’s really difficult because (KCRH is) where I go as a provider for birth control. That’s where a lot of my friends go as a provider of birth control. And for Planned Parenthood to be burned down and now for KCRH to also be a place that is terrifying to go because of all these people, it makes it so difficult to even get contraception,” Rao said.
Katie Leming, a senior at Maryville College, said she woke up to the news that Roe v. Wade had been overturned. “I just went back to bed because I couldn’t handle it."
The Dobbs ruling is expected to make the division between so-called “red states” and “blue states” more pronounced, as abortion access will vary widely across state borders. According to Rao, her brother who lives in New York messaged her to say “it really sucks for you down there.”
Boyt, who served as a recruitment chair for Sexual Empowerment and Awareness at Tennessee (SEAT), is concerned for women in states like Tennessee who will not have the resources to get to another state where abortions are accessible.
“It sucks. It’s scary. Cause it’s like, I may have the resources if I need to go to another state, but other people simply don’t have that,” Boyt said. “We already had a fear about all of this happening, but now it’s just so disturbing that people really need to get out there and show the fact that this is wrong and inhumane.”
The smattering of ages at the protest meant that many present were alive before Roe established the right to an abortion.
“I remember when Roe v. Wade was issued by the Supreme Court and that’s when the fight to overturn it started. It took 50 years,” said Nina Gregg, a community organizer in Blount County. “We are in a really critical moment in this country, whether you’re looking at the hearing of the select committee on the insurrection at the Capitol or looking at what the Supreme Court is doing.”
“People need to get involved and ensure that…this is a country you want to be a part of, where you can express yourself, you can love who you want to love and have bodily autonomy.”
Gregg is working to form a network of Blount County residents who can provide information on where and how to access an abortion for those seeking one.
Sophia Hall, a rising senior at Seymour High School, was on her morning shift at work when the news broke. She went to buy shorts to change into so she could protest comfortably in the heat with her mother, Jessica Hall, who said she fears for her 17-year-old daughter’s future.
“I’m a Gen Xer and I cannot believe that in my lifetime Roe versus Wade has been overturned,” Hall said. “It’s the scariest thing I could imagine and I just don’t want my daughter growing up in a world where men are regulating her body, her choices. It’s so dystopian, it’s frightening.”
Though the protest lasted several hours, it proceeded without incident and dispersed peacefully.
This article was updated to include Chief Justice Roberts’ split vote.
Tory Mills, former director of community engagement for Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi, speaks to a crowd gathered at Krutch Park to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday, June 24, 2022.
