A year after one of the largest pro-choice rallies was held in Washington, D.C., pro-choice groups from across Michigan gathered at the Capitol to urge legislators to support women's reproductive rights.
Women and men spent the day speaking to their legislators and making signs and then joined a rally where they listened to speakers talk about pro-choice issues.
"We need to reach pro-choice candidates and get them to run and send anti-choice legislators back to their districts where they belong," said Rebekah Warren, executive director of MARAL Pro-Choice Michigan.
The master of ceremonies for the rally was Nancy Skinner, a self-proclaimed liberal radio host from Illinois.
"There is an assault on freedom at every step of the way for women," Skinner said. "From abstinence education, which is really pro-abortion because it doesn't work, to the latest, which is pharmacists denying women birth control on moral grounds."
Part of the message of the rally was for pro-choice people to speak to legislators with several pro-choice legislators speaking.
"In the pro-choice movement, we need a bipartisan group of people," state Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor, said. "We have to stay strong and organized.
"We need to keep the government out of our bedrooms. A woman's decision to have an abortion is between her, her partner and her physician."
Many people attended the rally, including MSU students and students from colleges from across the state.
"I'm going to law school to impact choice because if I don't do it then no one will," MSU College of Law student Lena Zwarensteyn said.
People of all ages attended the rally, including many women who had been working for years on the issue.
"Some people never give up," said Ann Arbor resident Kathy Fojkitik, who said she worked on the rights of women to have abortions in the 1970s and continues to work on them now.
Much of the focus of the rally was on preventing abortions from ever having to happen and preventing them from becoming illegal and dangerous.
"We need to speak up and tell the truth; you have to tell your story of choice," said Penny Gardner, who is an executive assistant for Michigan Equality. "We must be the ones to tell our stories because if we don't, our opponents will tell it, and they will not tell the truth."
The pro-choice rally was not the only event to raise awareness about the abortion debate issue this month.
MSU Students for Life held an event Saturday that featured live music, information tables and speakers, including women who had abortions, and Rep. Jack Hoogendyk, R-Kalamazoo, who also is a candidate for governor.
President of Students for Life Katie Wilcox, who also is an international relations and economics junior, said she thought the event was successful despite Saturday's snow and cold.
"This is an issue that affects everyone," Wilcox said. "We definitely got that point across successfully."
Wilcox said the group does not have a stance on abstinence-only education, but she personally believes the use of contraceptives should not be taught in schools.
"It's a parent's and family responsibility to educate their children about sex education, and they should teach abstinence-only education because it's not going to cause any problems with people's morals," Wilcox said.
