For area women, many reasons to march on Washington

Jan. 23--WASHINGTON -- Hundreds of thousands -- and nearly 200 from the Keene area -- took to the streets of D.C. Saturday for the Women's March on Washington.

They moved in crowds and waves, joining chants and watching speeches. But each had her own reason for being there.

For Bridie Pearce of Winchester, it was a loved one who she said was sexually assaulted at her workplace.

The woman was groped by her genitals in an area store, in an aisle strategically chosen to avoid cameras, Pearce said. The suspect had been convicted of sexual assault in the past, but the case was ultimately dismissed in court, according to Pearce.

But when leaked audio from 2005 surfaced in October capturing President Donald Trump boasting of the power to grab women by the genitals with impunity, Pearce was incensed.

Trump, then a candidate, said he had never acted on the described actions and made several public apologies for what he termed "locker room talk."

But Pearce says the president's reaction only hardened her feelings.

"Any man who can say it's 'locker room talk' or 'just banter' has no idea what women who suffer sexual assault are going through," she said, the dome of the Capitol building looming behind her. "How many girls are going to be taken advantage of if men continue to talk like that?"

Pearce says her daughter Sarah has learning disabilities, and gets insurance from her parents, and Pearce worries that a Republican-led repeal of the Affordable Care Act will force her daughter to claim disability to receive coverage.

Bridie Pearce looks to her other daughter, who is 2 1/2 years old, as a factor fueling her belief in abortion rights. "My daughter was a choice," she said, citing the freedom she would have had to get an abortion if she chose.

Gesturing around the marchers on the National Mall, she said, "We're not about killing babies; we're about giving each baby a chance at a good life."

Jennifer Bernet of Keene had her own reason to march: her son, who has a developmental disability.

He's 25 now, and lives in a residential living center in Greenfield, but he needed special teaching and support growing up, she said. Bernet had the means to pay for private care, but she said not all do and she believes Medicaid funds should be more readily available for those with disabilities.

"People languish without effective support and services," she said.

Maureen O'Brien of Fitzwilliam was also marching for accessibility to health care -- specifically for funding to be maintained for Planned Parenthood and other clinics offering contraceptive care. As a practicing psychotherapist, she said she's heard concern about health care coverage from patients since the election.

It wasn't O'Brien's first time holding a sign in the Mall. In the late '60s she marched in protest of the Vietnam War, traveling by bus from Cleveland for the occasion. And she went to college at George Washington University, right downtown.

But, "it was nothing like this," she said Saturday, pointing to the streams of marchers in all directions. "Everywhere you look, there are people."

For all the marchers' stated concerns, the atmosphere was upbeat and jovial. But for the Monadnock-area women, the trek to get there was a trial. Four buses carrying 165 people left from Keene Friday night -- two from Thomas Transportation, and two from Rally bus, according to JoAnn Fenton of Keene.

The plan was to drive all night, arrive Saturday morning, march through the day and leave Saturday night, Fenton said. But on the way down the two Rally buses were stopped in New Jersey for a transfer, at 3 a.m.

Fenton said it only heightened the experience. "It's really fun going with the group; there's so much camaraderie," she said.

Others made their own way. Dr. Karen Bradley, an OB/GYN at Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene, came down the day before with about 14 friends and family, many of them fellow doctors.

Bradley said she wasn't there for any one issue -- though access to health care was a definite concern. She walked the streets with a sign reading, "This MD's Rx: compassion and curiosity are the antidote to fear, ignorance and hate."

The rally was a natural extension of some of the work Bradley has already been doing. She said she had never considered herself a volunteer, but since the election started volunteering for the Hundred Nights homeless shelter in Keene.

It's an instinct she feels at the local, and national, level.

"I would say people feel energized in a way I haven't experienced as an adult," Bradley said.

On Saturday, Bradley joined her mother, Mary, who took Karen to environmental and civil rights protests throughout the 1970s and '80s.

By her side was Karen's daughter, who turned 18 in time for the two to both vote in November. Saturday was the first time the two had marched together.

Ethan DeWitt can be reached at 352-1234, extension 1439, or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @EDeWittKS

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