E. Anise Simon: Taking a risk by protesting

Regarding the Oct. 30 news article “Protesters block street at Executive Mansion”: In Raleigh, a daughter cried as her mother was arrested; she understood that her undocumented mother might not come home. The mother was protesting the anti-immigration House Bill 318 that Gov. Pat McCrory signed that day, and as the scene unfolded, I considered my role in the community.

I’m a board member for the Carolina Abortion Fund, a North Carolina abortion access and advocacy organization with a 24-hour helpline that provides grants to callers who cannot afford the full cost of their abortions. Many of our callers come from communities that will be greatly affected by HB 318.

For these callers, an unintended pregnancy is far from the only issue they are facing, especially with the added fear of deportation. And currently an abortion can be virtually impossible to obtain because of restrictions on health insurance coverage.

What must this mother have knowingly risked to protest this bill? And what might this mother risk by not speaking up?

Until North Carolina addresses the needs of all our people, including the fundamental right to parent children safely and by choice, many families will continue to live in fear, and our helpline will continue to ring.

This story was originally published November 9, 2015 at 4:33 PM with the headline "E. Anise Simon: Taking a risk by protesting."