BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI
North Country This Week

MASSENA — Chants of “They say no-choice, we say pro-choice” and other pro-choice cheers could be heard through the downtown area as more than 150 pro-choice advocates marched to town hall in protest of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade last month.

The march was organized by Massena Village Trustee Christine Winston and saw many familiar faces, including St. Lawrence County Legislator Margaret Haggard and Democratic Congressional candidate Matt Putorti in attendance.

The event kicked off at the Massena Community Center, with Putorti proclaiming he was more than just “not Elise”, referencing Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, and saying that he would fight for abortion rights for all women.

“The Supreme Court overturning Roe is not anti-abortion, it is anti-woman and will have deadly consequences,” Putorti said.

“The Supreme Court decision in the case was the result of six men deciding what women can do with their bodies and it has ruined the integrity of the Supreme Court,” he continued.

Two groups soon formed, with both parties leading chants and protests through the downtown area, with everyone eventually converging on town hall. A handful of speakers took to the steps to address the crowd, though not without the occasional jeer from those driving by.

Dozens of vehicles driving by honked horns in support, with many driving by with signs of their own.

“This is not just an event, we are going to continue to do work and help those who need abortion assistance,” Trustee Winston told the crowd.

A grassroots organization is in the works, she said.

The new group will assist with transportation to abortion clinics, potentially assisting those in other, more restrictive states who may not otherwise have the option available to them, Winston continued.

A number of other speakers also took to the steps, highlighting many personal stories that included instances in which, as young women, they had abortions. Each said it would have been unthinkable even a few years ago to think the right would be overturned.

“I was in college in 1973 when Roe was passed, who would have thought we would be here now doing this all over again,” Legislator Haggard said during her speech.

One story in particular had a clear effect on the crowd, as the speaker detailed her life with a strict, Catholic family.

“I was very sick and unable to eat, I was becoming a skeleton. And at 19 my mother took me to our Catholic OBGYN who, after a urine test, told me I was pregnant,” she said.

She went on to detail the treatment she received, including bed rest in the Ogdensburg hospital for a month, surrounded by young, single mothers who were on the verge of giving birth.

“I was in a room with eight other girls, most of whom were just about to give birth,” she said.

Multiple shots were prescribed, she said, the purpose of which was to stop her from having contractions and ultimately a miscarriage.

It wasn’t until her sister came home from college for Thanksgiving that she was taken to a doctor who ran more tests, confirming she was not pregnant and likely only had a few weeks to live due to multiple blood clots forming in her uterus.

“He told me there was no baby, there never was. And what was inside me was making me very sick. Without that doctor, I would have died within a couple of weeks,” she said.

Other organizations including Black Lives Matter: Potsdam and The Poor People’s Campaign voiced support for the movement on the day.

John Tenbusch of the Poor People’s Campaign spoke for a time, highlighting the impact the Roe v. Wade decision would have on disadvantaged groups, including the 140 million people who lost their right to an abortion almost overnight.

New York has taken the first steps to constitutionally guarantee abortion, after passing legislation recently during Governor Hochul’s “extraordinary session”. The next steps to completing the process will come next year, when the next elected legislature will take up the measure before sending it to a referendum for New York State residents to approve.