Abortion access and funding focus of opposing rallies in Frederick

Feb. 12--With signs held high, people took to the streets in Frederick on Saturday to voice their opinions in the ongoing debate over reproductive health.

Approximately 50 people stood outside Planned Parenthood on Thomas Johnson Drive in opposition to abortion, said John Miller, former president of Frederick County Right to Life. For two hours, they held signs and prayed in silence.

Immediately after, about 200 people marched in downtown Frederick for a Stand with Planned Parenthood march and rally in support of continued access to the organization's medical services, said Bethel Quick, the march's organizer and a graduate student at Hood College studying clinical mental health.

"They're trying to legislate our morality," Quick said. "But health care is important, especially with reproductive rights."

Frederick County Right to Life held signs in support of defunding Planned Parenthood and redirecting the money to federally qualified health centers, which work with underserved areas or populations. They receive grant money from the Public Health Service Act and qualify for Medicare, Medicaid and other benefits.

The nearest health center is in Hagerstown, Miller said.

The purpose of redirecting funds is not to close Planned Parenthood, but to keep tax dollars separate from the organization, he said.

"We are excited about the possibility, and expectation, that Congress might defund [Planned Parenthood] federally," Miller said.

The Stand with Planned Parenthood crowd marched down Carroll Creek to the amphitheater in support of maintaining access to legal and safe abortions, birth control, sexually transmitted disease testing and other medical services.

Quick recently had a child, but in 2006, she had a miscarriage. She had just started a business and did not have health insurance, so she turned to Planned Parenthood for after-care and antibiotics.

While performing an ultrasound, a Planned Parenthood doctor found a mass on her ovary that turned out to be stage two ovarian cancer. She is now in remission, because her cancer was caught early, she said.

Quick selected Saturday for the Stand with Planned Parenthood march and rally to have a voice during the Protest Planned Parenthood event, which was part of a larger national effort, she said.

Frederick County Right to Life previously demonstrated outside Planned Parenthood in August 2015, after secretly filmed videos surfaced of Planned Parenthood employees describing the sale of fetal tissues. The group is a chapter of the Maryland Right to Life organization.

Quick said she reached out to Frederick County Right to Life before the march. She did not receive a positive response, but she still hopes for better relations between people with opposing views on abortion.

"If duty calls, I will be there," Quick said. "We need to stand up for what we believe in."

Follow Samantha Hogan on Twitter: @SAHogan.

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