31 arrested in women's rights demonstration at state Capitol

Del. Delores L. McQuinn, D-Richmond, tonight spoke out against the arrests of 31 women's rights demonstrators in a protest at the state Capitol earlier today that drew Virginia State Police in riot gear.

She said the arrests "are just the latest example of government overreach that we’ve seen in recent weeks."

"The men and women who marched on Capitol Square have a right to peacefully protest without the threat that they will be arrested for exercising that right," McQuinn said in a news release. "At several recent women’s rights events, there has been an overabundance of police presence. In fact, the Capitol Police tactical team has been at all of the events," she said.

McQuinn said she had "never seen a similar police presence when guns rights advocates assemble on Capitol Square on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday."

McQuinn called the arrests "a sad reminder that our progress towards equality for all Virginians has not been achieved.”

(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. Earlier updates are posted below. Read more in tomorrow's Richmond Times-Dispatch.)

5:20 p.m.

Thirty-one women's-rights demonstrators were arrested this afternoon in a protest at the state Capitol that drew hundreds of protesters and Virginia State Police in riot gear.

Capt. Raymond Goodloe of the Virginia Division of Capitol Police
said 17 women and 14 men were arrested. He did not have a breakdown on charges but said those arrested were likely accused of either trespassing or unalawful assembly.

The arrests took place after some protesters, who had marched on downtown streets before entering Capitol Square, refused to leave the south steps of the Capitol. They were hauled off by officers and taken away in a bus parked nearby while other armed officers held protesters at bay with riot shields.

The demonstration came after the General Assembly approved hotly disputed legislation that requires women to have an ultrasound before getting an abortion.

Shelley Abrams, who runs a local abortion clinic, spoke to the crowd this morning before the march. She said she had an abortion and has never regretted her decision.

"Being in a clinic, people have no idea how many people get abortions," she said. "Your sisters are getting them, your mothers. There's a stigma of shame around that and I want that to go away and it starts with people saying, ''I had an abortion.'"

Urbanna resident Louise Friday said legislators are "taking us back to another time with their rules and trying to, in a sneaky way, prohibit women from using contraceptives."

Along with Friday was Sheila Jones, who was wearing a T-shirt that she said she wore in April 1992 during the March for Women's Lives at the National Mall in Washington, DC, a pro-choice rally that drew more than 1 million people.

"I thought we'd taken care of these atrocities [on women's rights] back then, and we haven't," she said. "So I had to come back down here and do this for all of the young women that now are fighting for the same thing that we thought we had taken care of 20 years ago."

(Staff writer Holly Prestidge contributed to this report.)

(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. Read more in tomorrow's Richmond Times-Dispatch. Earlier updates are posted below.)

2:54 p.m.

Virginia State Police in full riot gear held women's-rights demonstrators at bay this afternoon while officers began to arrest about 40 protesters who refused to leave the south steps of the state Capitol.

After a march that began on 9th Street and onto Broad before winding back to the Capitol, protesters gathered at the steps to the Capitol and about 40 people sat there with locked arms. State police were arresting those protesters individually.

Protest organizers said they had a permit to demonstrate at the nearby Bell Tower on Capitol Square, but some chose to stay at the steps.

Those arrested were put on what appeared to be a refitted school bus that had been parked near the Capitol. A calmed crowd began to disperse, and a smaller group then gathered on the Bank Street.

A total number of people arrested was not immediately available.

(This has been a breaking news update. Check back for more details as they become available. An earlier update is posted below. Read more in tomorrow's Richmond Times-Dispatch.)

2:37 p.m.

About 500 women's-rights activists gathered on the grounds of the state Capitol today to protest legislation requiring an ultrasound before getting an abortion.

They planned to march to the Executive Mansion to protest House Bill 462 and other legislation proposed by the General Assembly that they see as an assault on women's reproductive rights.

Many of the women wore red arm bands to show their support. Some carried signs that expressed sentiments like, "Gov. McDonnell Get Out Of My Vagina" and "Mind Your Own Private Parts."

Shelley Abrams, who runs a local abortion clinic, spoke to the crowd this morning before they marched. She said she had an abortion and has never regretted her decision.

"Being in a clinic, people have no idea how many people get abortions. There's a stigma of shame around that and I want that to go away and it starts with people saying 'I had an abortion.'"

On Thursday the House of Delegates agreed to Senate amendments to the ultrasound bill, sending the measure to the governor. The bill has been amended so that a woman could refuse a transvaginal ultrasound. The measure now also would exempt from the ultrasound requirement victims of rape or incest who report the attack to authorities.

Link to original article from The Richmond Times Dispatch

States - Virginia