By Dawn De Busk

Staff Writer

Bridgton resident Angela Merrill jumped at the opportunity to go to a reproductive rights rally that was being held in the town where she lives.

Since the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe V. Wade, Merrill has been concerned about the future of women and all Americans.

On Sunday morning, Merrill joined 65 other individuals in Bridgton at one of the rallies being organized by “Bans off Our Bodies,” which is funded by Planned Parenthood. Simultaneously, rallies were unfolding in Portland and Augusta.  

Merrill stood there in Shorey Park facing Main Street with a sign in her hand and her best friend Kim Elliott nearby. She was impressed with the number of people who showed up to the rally. 

“It is nice to have one in Bridgton. We are a liberal town. We forget that sometimes,” Merrill said.  “I have been to many rallies, but this was the most people I’ve seen get together in Bridgton for any cause. We got overwhelming support from passers-by.”

“Of the three [drivers] that gave thumbs downs — one was an older man and two of them were women. That felt like a punch,” she said.  

“People should understand: This is a human rights issue. This is not a political issue. This is a human rights issue. This should not change every time we get a new governor,” Merrill said. 

“It is my right to do what I want with my own body,” she said 

“This is baseline safety. Why are the baseline safety of individuals being taken away? All the effort put in to protecting those reproductive rights. We are just going backwards,” she said. “It is universally given. To have to spend so much effort making a case of bodily autonomy is an absurd waste of our energy and resources.”

Merrill believes the law changes will impact not only the individual, but also society. 

“Reproductive rights immediately affects the work place and the economy,” she said. 

These are topics that she talks about in her circle of friends. The rally served as a way to spread awareness, network with others, and to feel like she is doing something

“There were people who drove by and looked confused. The world is on fire. But just for some of us. Some of us don’t experience the fire,” Merrill said. 

“It was a nice opportunity to be doing something positive and coming together before it is a crisis. It is not a crisis in Maine right now,” she said. 

The general mood of the people during the rally was cheerful, Merrill said. Plus, the gathering served as a place for people to network for future events. 

“There were a couple ladies who came from North Conway to see what it was about,” Merrill said.  

The Bridgton group provided e-mail addresses so they could be alerted when something similar, through Bans Off Our Bodies, is organized in North Conway, she said. 

Merrill and Elliott found out about the scheduled rally through the Bridgton Community page on Facebook. On the day of the event, Merrill noticed most of the people were in her age range. 

“I was surprised there weren’t younger people. But, there aren’t a lot of kids and teens on the Facebook community page,” Merrill said.  

She hopes that future rallies will draw more people once word of mouth gets around.

“I am in convincing mode. My thought is: it is interesting that there is such overwhelming public support of reproductive rights, according to a Gallop Poll. It has stayed at majority approval for decades,” she said. 

She did not know why the court would rule against what the majority of Americans wanted. 

Merrill referred people to news.gallup.comUnder the topic abortion, there are graphs showing the outcome of almost annual Gallop polls since the mid-1970s.  

According to a poll conducted from the May 2 to 22, 2022, the question was: Would you like to see the Supreme Court overturn it’s 1973 ruling, Roe V. Wade, decision concerning abortion, or not? Fifty-eight percent of those polled said No, don’t overturn. Meanwhile, 35% said Yes the court should do that. And, 7% fell into the category of no opinion.   

For 10 years, the majority of people said no to the court overturning it, ranging from 52% to 64%. From 1992 to 2022, the percentage of people saying yes to the court overturning ranged from 25% to 35%. During that decade worth of polling, the no opinion group went from 4% to 18%.