Feminists gather to commemorate Roe v. Wade

In celebration of the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, about 300 people met and spoke about advances and obstacles in women’s rights Saturday night.

The local chapter of the National Women’s Liberation held the event at The Wooly, located at 20 N. Main St. It’s the fifth year they’ve held the event, said Brooke Eliazar-Macke, a member of the organization’s steering committee and one of the event organizers. She said the intention was to celebrate the decision and feminism itself.

“We want to show this decision was not the gift of a judge,” Eliazar-Macke said. “It was the effort of organized feminist demand, and its historic impact remains significant.”

At the event, attendees could give donations to the organization or pay for tickets for raffles such as local businesses’ gift cards. The organization is working on advancing women’s abortion rights by making sure local clinics are properly licensed for the procedure.

The event is one of the many carried out by the National Women’s Liberation to ignite social change, Eliazar-Macke said. They also hold seminars and classes focused on historically successful ways of organizing social movements.

Erica Bales, another member of the organization and the steering committee, said they’re working on making affordable birth control more readily accessible to local communities. In the future, Bales said she hopes more locals get involved with the organization and engage in activist action.

“Find the cause you believe in and work for that,” she said.

Amy Coenen and her daughter Ella share the stage with another member of the National Women's Liberation organization right before announcing the first winners to the raffle inside The Wooly on Saturday night. The anniversary show was put together to celebrate the 45th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision.