Some Mississippians are speaking out against new restrictive abortion laws that are being passed across the country. MPB's Jasmine Ellis reports.
Mississippians are gathering at the state capitol to protest legislation banning abortion. "Stop the Bans" rallies are being held across the nation by abortion rights supporters. Shannon Brewer is director of the Jackson Women's Health Organization. She says she's scared about what the new restrictive abortion laws mean for the future.
"It scares me for my daughter and my grandkids," said Brewer. "It just scares me that they're not going to have their right. They're not going to have that choice. They should have all choices not just a selective few on what certain people believe. All choices should be available to women."
Valencia Robinson with Mississippi in Action says the recent abortion bans are an attack on women's rights.
"This is about women's bodies and their rights," said Robinson. "So we will have to come together with different partners. We have to bring men into this movement. And work on getting legislators to see this is not the way to go."
Not everyone at the state capitol during the rally was in favor of abortion rights. Coleman Boyd says he showed up at the rally to defend what he says are children in the womb.
"I am a born again child of God who has a heart like the Lord has for the weak and the innocent," said Boyd. "And that's what these babies are... they're speechless. They're weak... they're innocent. They're innocent children. And we are murdering them in our society and we don't care."
Abortion rights supporters say they will continue to fight back against the anti-abortion laws.