Hundreds Gather in Wenatchee to Protest Abortion Decision

Local Wenatchee groups say they'll continue to speak out against the Supreme Court's decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Several hundred people gathered along Chelan Ave. in Memorial Park Friday afternoon to protest the ruling.

Rachel Todd with the YWCA of North Central Washington says their voices will continue to be heard.

"We are tired of reacting, and we're tired of waiting until afterwards." said Todd. "We want proactivity, access and human rights from the get go."

The Supreme Court's decision does away with the constitutional rights of a woman to have an abortion.

Laws governing the procedure are now left to individual states to determine.

The governors of Washington, Oregon and California issued a multi-state commitment to defend access abortion on Friday.

Todd says the safety of having ongoing access to the procedure in Washington doesn't help women in some neighboring states.

"There are states like our neighbors in Idaho where it's going to be a lot less safe for folks to even protest about this stuff without facing some sort of civil or criminal action from the government," Todd said. "We are using our power, and our privilege, and our voices to lift up the voices of those folks that are in places that are not safe."

Todd said the quickly assembled protest Friday was organized largely through messaging on social media.

The groups organizing the protest included the YWCA of North Central Washington, Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, Wenatchee Pride, the Progressive Delivery and North Central Washington Democrats.