Rally-goers assemble on Main Street bridge in protest of Roe v. Wade ruling

By Kim McDarison 

Some 100 individuals assembled on the Main Street bridge in Fort Atkinson Sunday in protest of Friday’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. 

The rally was organized by Fort Atkinson resident Shelly Hummel, who said she was so angry about the decision that she decided to do something. 

Her reaction, she said, was to form a Facebook event and send an invitation out to groups and her friends on social media.

The event was shared through Facebook on Friday, Hummel said, with the understanding that the rally would occur Saturday, but rain caused her to move the date to Sunday morning. 

Some 50 people responded favorably to her Facebook event invitation, she said, and she was pleasantly surprised when she saw that the turnout on the bridge was double. 

“It was a really nice turnout. I was really proud of our little city,” she said. 

Initially, she and a friend were considering a march, Hummel said, but with the Robert Street bridge closed for repairs, they decided a rally would be better. 

Describing the emotions that led to her interest in creating the rally, Hummel said: “I was furious when I heard they overturned this. I’m 51. I can’t have more children,” she said, adding that while she was not directly affected by the decision, she recognized that her children would be. 

“I have a 17-year-old daughter and sons,” she said. 

Hummel said her daughter, Hallie, and some friends attended the rally. 

She noted that she thought it was important for her daughter to understand the implications of the ruling and that she had a voice. 

“When I first started talking about it, she didn’t really understand it, but I told her my feelings and what it meant,” Hummel said. 

For Hummel, the overturning of Roe v. Wade brought concerns about women losing their rights to make decisions about what happens to their own bodies, she said, but also, the decision brought her anxiety, she noted, about what other decisions might be made by the government. 

“What other rights might the government take away?” she asked. 

“I know it’s far between not being able to get an abortion and not being able to vote, but it makes me wonder,” she said.  

Hummel, who is a patient battling Stage 4 cancer, said, for her, a right to decide what happens to one’s own body also was in the forefront of her mind during the COVID-19 mask and vaccination debates. 

“I didn’t think it was fair that people were being forced to get a vaccine or lose their jobs, even though I believe in the vaccine,” she said, adding that she also believes whether one receives the vaccine or not should be their choice. 

She said she felt the same way about mask mandates. 

During the debate, she said, she was an advocate for masks. 

“Did I believe that everybody should do it? Yes, I did. I’m undergoing chemo right now. I have rules for my house, but as a human being, I didn’t think it (a mandate) was right because the government shouldn’t have a mandate like that. It’s not right. This is the United States; we have freedoms. 

“Did I want everyone to be vaccinated? I did.”

Hummel said she was confronted by a friend who asked her why she hadn’t organized a rally in protest of mask and vaccination mandates.  

“I didn’t really have an answer for that. I didn’t organize an event. That was probably wrong. It was an infringement and everyone has rights,” she said.  

But the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, she said, for her, it was “a shock.

“I thought of my daughter and young girls getting an abortion in an alley somewhere, and I wanted to show my daughter how to have a voice.” 

As she posted her event invitation Friday, even as Facebook friends and commenters began to argue, she said, she saw what she described as an “upside”: “it brought up the conversation and it needed to be had.” 

At the rally on Sunday, Hummel said, “it brought out people of all ages, including young people, and boys.  

“I’m so proud and thankful that these people were there and I had support.”  

Hummel said most of the people passing by as motorists on the bridge were positive. They honked horns and waved and called out words of encouragement. 

One man wanted to pass out literature, which he claimed offered a Biblical understanding of abortion, Hummel said, and a few young men passed through and revved the engines of their trucks, which, she said, she understood as a gesture of disrespect. 

The group on the bridge remained assembled for about two hours, Hummel noted, adding that while she met a family from Portland, Ore., whom, she said, was visiting friends, most of the people who participated were from the area. Some came from places like Milton, Hebron and Helenville, she said. 

According to Hummel, people attending the rally were angry about the ruling and fearful for the future. 

“People were concerned about the (Supreme Court) ruling,” she said. She believed people at the rally were asking, like she was asking: “What is this setting up the country for?”