Pro Choice Rally at Connecticut Capital, 5/15/22

Hartford, Connecticut

There was a Bans Off Our Bodies rally on the grounds of the State Capital in Hartford, Sunday at noon. Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal addressed the crowd with a passionate support for legislation to codify the effect of the Roe decision as national law.

Several of the organizers also spoke, including the head of Connecticut's chapter of Planned Parenthood.

Click on any of the pictures for a much larger, more detailed view of them all.

After the organizers spoke it went to "open Mic" with everyone invited to have their say. Many took up the invitation and this went on nearly an hour.

When the open mic session wound down, a woman asked everyone to join her in marching off the Capital grounds to occupy Capital Avenue. The rally had been permitted but blocking the avenue was civil disobedience. Most of the crowd walked to the avenue and about half  crossed out onto the roadway itself, while the rest stayed on the Capital grounds and sidewalk.

Within a couple minutes cruisers from both the Capital police and Hartford city police pulled up across the road at both ends of the block and began redirecting traffic. The protesters then marched up the avenue to the east end of the block.

The police calmly directed traffic away from the block and didn't approach the protesters. After about ten minutes someone with the bullhorn announced that "we've made our point." The crowd returned to the sidewalk and broke up into small groups heading back to their cars.