Protesters rally at the Michigan Capitol in support of abortion rights

With raincoats, umbrellas and vivid pink signs, a couple hundred people gathered at the Michigan Capitol Tuesday to energize an effort to legalize abortion in Michigan.

The rally, organized by Michigan Planned Parenthood Advocates, was in response to a draft opinion that shows the U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to overturn Roe v. Wade — the landmark decision that legalized abortion nationwide 50 years ago.

If overturned, Michigan is one of 26 states where abortion could become illegal due to laws or constitutional amendments still on the books.

Related: Abortion could be illegal soon in Michigan: What to know about Roe v. Wade fallout

Eight speakers including State Sen. Mallory McMorrow, D-Royal Oak, state Sen. Adam Hollier, D-Detroit, and Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan Executive Director Nicole Wells Stallworth rallied the crowd and encouraged them to act.

“This does not have to be the final word,” Stallworth said. “Our fate is now in our hands.”

Several efforts could keep legalized abortion in Michigan despite the expected Supreme Court decision.

Separate lawsuits filed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Planned Parenthood target a 1931 state law that bans abortions. The rally, however, focused on a ballot initiative that would amend Michigan’s constitution to guarantee abortion rights.

The citizen-led petition needs 425,029 signatures by mid-July to qualify for the November ballot.

“We can save abortion in Michigan,” said Loren Khogali, ACLU of Michigan executive director. “We just all have to get together, we’ve got to knock on doors, we’ve got to look at phones and text the last 10 people we talked to, knock on our neighbors’ doors, look in our emails, comb through that contact list and reach out to every all you know and say: ‘I’ve got a petition for you to sign.’”

Meanwhile, canvassers circulated in the crowd Tuesday with clipboards and pens asking, “Have you signed the petition yet?”

Related: 2 things stand in the way of a Michigan abortion ban if Roe v. Wade is overturned

Julia Walters, a Michigan State University senior, said the rally at the Capitol is helping mobilize young people outraged by the Supreme Court news to back the petition.

“To have a huge chunk sign this to get us over the threshold, so that we can put it on the ballot,” she said.

For others, they attended the rally to show their support for abortion rights.

“We wanted to protect our rights,” said Michelle Garibaldi, who stood alongside her friend San Juanita Perez. “As a woman, I want to be able to have my rights. And I don’t think it’s fair to other women or myself if I wasn’t here.”

Related: Roe v. Wade’s likely fate has Michigan Republicans cheering as Democrats prepare for fight

About a dozen anti-abortion demonstrators showed up to the rally with large signs. Standing at the back of the crowd, abortion-rights advocates confronted a separate group from Protect Life Michigan, blocking their messages with umbrellas or signs.

“We’re cautiously optimistic,” said one anti-abortion demonstrator, Audrey Whipple, about the Supreme Court draft opinion. “In a lot of ways, it’s exciting because Roe has been in place and in effect for way too long.”

The 1931 Michigan law has been unenforceable since Roe v. Wade legalized abortion nationwide nearly five decades ago. The state law made all abortion procedures illegal unless necessary to save the mother’s life.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has suggested she would not enforce the law.

Those rallying at the Capitol urged people to sign the petition, backed by the group Reproductive Freedom for All, to codify Michigan’s right to reproductive freedom including the right to an abortion, birth control, prenatal care and childbirth.

“I have no doubt that we can do it,” Khogali said. “Because I believe in every single one of you who showed up in the rain, the cold and the almost snow, it feels like, to say: Bans off our bodies.”

Proposed ballot initiative would add abortion rights to Michigan Constitution

Gov. Whitmer sues in attempt to strike down Michigan’s 1931 abortion law

Supreme Court leak ‘feels like a victory’ for Right to Life, while Planned Parenthood vows to fight for abortion rights

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