After abortion rally arrest, NC lawmaker to ‘continue to put my body on the line’
Rep. Alma Adams thought back Wednesday morning to July 2013, when she stood on the House floor in North Carolina with a coat hanger in hand.
She said her colleagues then were debating “reckless legislation” and she wanted them to understand what would happen if they limited access to abortions.
“I stood on the floor with my coat hanger, because that’s where we’re going back to,” Adams said. “Women who need this care will find a way to get it, and that’s what really breaks my heart.
“People will die who don’t have to, all because of this unruly rule that this Supreme Court passed down.”
Adams, 76, a Democrat who now represents the Charlotte area in Congress, was speaking to reporters Wednesday morning less than 24 hours after being arrested for protesting a decision from the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned two landmark cases that had ensured abortion rights.
Adams marched with about 50 others, including fellow members of Congress, from the steps of the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court. The demonstrators sat down in the middle of First Street NE, which separates the Capitol grounds from the courthouse, to protest the decision.
Capitol Police gave them three warnings to move before arresting 35 people, including 17 members of Congress.
Adams’ colleague, Rep. Dan Bishop, a Republican who also lives in Charlotte, called on Capitol Police to treat his colleagues as they did the rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Will they be sent to the DC gulag with the J6 prisoners,” Bishop tweeted. “Fair is fair, right?”
More than 10,000 rioters stormed the Capitol in an attempt to stop the election certification of President Joe Biden. The insurrectionists used violence to break into the building.
“I think they’re just trying to take away from the awful things that happened on Jan. 6,” Adams told reporters in response. “They don’t want to talk about that.”
Bishop tweeted again as Adams and other lawmakers returned to the House floor late Tuesday to vote on a bill that ensures same-sex marriage.
“Could there be a dual standard of justice,” he asked.
“Hopefully, Mr. Bishop will remember that there are a women and girls in his district who care about this issue,” Adams said in response. “I don’t think that there’s a double standard at all. And, you know, I don’t expect any more from my Republican colleagues than to say things like that.”
Abortion ruling
Adams said she’s concerned for her constituents in North Carolina.
The state has a 20-week abortion ban in place, which House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger have vowed to ensure is fully enforced.
Neither House nor Senate took up legislation on abortion before adjourning this month, but Moore said it would be a top priority next year, WRAL reported.
Adams said she worked with the lawmakers in North Carolina’s General Assembly and she believes they’re not the type of people that she can expect to do the right thing.
“We deserve nothing less than our bodily autonomy and our freedom to access care,” Adams said. “This is a law that was in effect for almost 50 years, and thinking about turning back the hands of time, because that’s exactly what’s happening, I never thought I’d see it in my lifetime.”
Adams said that decisions made about a woman’s body need to be left between the woman and her health care provider, not the government. She said it’s critical to speak out against the Supreme Court’s decision.
“The Supreme Court’s decision was fundamentally wrong,” Adams said. “I continue to believe that, so I’m going to continue to put my body on the line and record my votes in the House in defense of abortion rights.”
‘Good trouble’
Adams left the Capitol Tuesday anticipating her arrest. She said she made the decision to march to stand up for those who feel unheard.
Tyler Lee, her Republican opponent in November’s election, said in a fundraising email that Adams’ arrest was a cry for attention and encouraged lawlessness.
This wasn’t Adams’ first arrest. In the 1990s in Greensboro, she was arrested protesting low wages.
She said she has warned her family about possible arrests throughout her career.
“You may see your mother on the news, or get arrested, or that kind of thing, but it won’t be because of the wrong thing,” Adams said. “I think you have to stand up for what is right whenever you have an opportunity to do that. That’s what I’ve done all my life.”
Officers charged Adams with crowding, obstructing or incommoding Tuesday.
“Sometimes you have to get in the way,” Adams said. “This was good trouble, if you will.”
Adams said the arresting officers were respectful to her, because she treated them with respect.
“Going back to Bishop’s comment about Jan. 6, we didn’t do any of that, and so they made sure we had water because it was very hot, so I thought they were very respectful and I appreciate that very much,” Adams said.
Adams has 15 days to pay $50 as a result of her arrest, though she said she was prepared to pay the money at the time.
She thanked constituents who reached out and offered up bail.
This story was originally published July 20, 2022 at 12:53 PM.
