LANSING, Mich. — Lansing and seven other cities in Michigan hosted rallies entitled, "Stop the Bans" which is part of a nationwide protest in support of a woman's right to choose.
On Tuesday, May 21st at noon, the women gathered at statehouses, town squares, and courthouses across the nation to speak out against the new bans. More than two dozen women and men gathered at the Michigan State Capitol.
The protesters said they're fighting back against an attempt to gut Roe v. Wade.
The protests come a week after Alabama enacted the strictest abortion law in the U.S., making abortion illegal in almost all cases, including rape and incest.
Lawmakers in Georgia, Ohio, Kentucky and Mississippi also proposed so-called 'heartbeat bills' this year and successfully got them signed into law. Those bills generally ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected which can be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
Morgan Dreese, 18, and some of her high school friends from Grand Haven went to the Capitol Tuesday to stand up for what they believe in.
"We wanted the message that we're in charge of ourselves and our own bodies and that women have a choice. Men in office don't need to make decisions for us and we have control of our lives," Dreese said.
Despite the recent bans, the pro-choice supporters at the Capitol felt encouraged.
"We have to keep the momentum going because we are under attack," said Annette Riley, a pro-choice supporter from Lansing.
Even though Dreese said that she hasn't had to make the difficult decision herself, others around her have, which is why she's fighting back so that they can have a choice.
The website, stopabortionsban.org, states that the abortion laws are "terrifying, particularly for women of color and low-income women who are most affected by these bans."
Even some pro-life Republicans have joined the backlash over the Alabama law's ban on abortion except when the mother's life is in danger.
President Donald Trump tweeted over the weekend that he thinks there should be exceptions for rape and incest.
Supporters of many of the new abortion laws openly said that they're simply a means to get the issue in front of the supreme court in the hope of getting Roe v. Wade overturned.
If that happened, Michigan's 18-46 law banning abortion would be back in effect.
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