Upcoming women’s rights rally will promote abortion amendment and abolishment of tax on menstrual products

Delta Digital News Service

Friday, Mar. 29, 2024

By Avery Jones | Editor

The Feminist Union at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro will be hosting their first women’s rights rally this Saturday. It will be held from noon to 3 PM in the courtyard of the Craighead County Courthouse.

The event is open to the community, and those who attend can choose to sign for the Arkansas Abortion Amendment and Period Tax Petition. They will also hear from several female speakers who are important figures in the community. 

“Essentially, this rally is to…celebrate the advancement of women’s rights across the years but also to celebrate the women now who are making basically their mark on history, specifically women’s history,” said Christina Smith, the president of the Feminist Union and a student at ASU Jonesboro.

The Arkansas Right to Abortion Initiative–more popularly known as the Arkansas Abortion Amendment–is a movement that aims to get the amendment on the ballot for 2024 as a constitutional amendment in Arkansas. If instated, the amendment would allow abortion within 18 weeks of conception; in the cases of rape, incest, or fatal anomalies; or when the life of the mother is in danger.

The movement was started by Arkansans for Limited Government, a nonprofit organization that advocates for personal liberties and limiting government involvement, especially in regards to healthcare. They must collect at least 90,000 signatures by this July 5 in order for the amendment to be placed on the November 2024 ballot.

An Act to Exempt Feminine Hygiene Products and Diapers from Sales and Use Tax is being spearheaded by the Arkansas Period Poverty Project, which aims to increase access to feminine hygiene products in Arkansas, especially for those in poverty, by ending sales tax on feminine hygiene products and getting free menstrual products in public schools. They need 72,500 signatures by this July in order to make it on the November 2024 ballot.

Those are the two main movements that the Feminist Union is currently promoting, but Smith said there may be other causes represented at the rally. The speakers at the rally will be talking in general about women’s rights, but they also will most likely promote their own causes.

There will be four speakers: State Senate candidate Erika Askeland, who is running for District 20; Young Democrats of Arkansas president Allison Sweatman; Alison Guthrie, a community advocate from Little Rock; and another community advocate, Rebekah Pruitt, from Jonesboro.

Specifically, Askeland will probably speak about her campaign. Sweatman will most likely speak about the importance of voting, especially for women. Guthrie stated that she would be talking about disability rights. Pruitt, as a transgender woman, will most likely speak on transgender rights.

While it’s their first rally, Smith said that it wasn’t difficult to arrange. Since the courthouse’s courtyard is public property, she just had to call the courthouse to ask permission to use it and make sure no one else was using it at that time. Then she started promoting the event.

As for the speakers, Smith already had connections to them. She reached out to Guthrie and Pruitt and asked them specifically to speak. Meanwhile, Askeland and Sweatman volunteered when they heard about the event.

“I reached out to Alison Guthrie and Rebekah Pruitt because I’m a very big fan of their work within their own communities,” Smith said.

Smith works on Askeland’s campaign, so when Askeland heard of the rally, she offered to speak. Similarly, Smith is the president for the Jonesboro chapter of the Young Democrats of Arkansas, so when she mentioned the event to Sweatman, Sweatman also volunteered.

The ASU Feminist Union itself has only recently become active again. It was first established in 2018 but shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Inactivity after the campus opened again caused the organization to die out. 

However, in fall 2023, Smith wanted to revive the Feminist Union. She had to register it again as a student organization and then recruit more members. Currently, the Union has around 60 to 70 members, but only about 10 to 15 members regularly attend meetings and activities.

“The hardest part was getting members…active members,” Smith said.

They have meetings every two weeks on Wednesdays and events every month. They have hosted panel events, in which they invite community advocates, elected officials, or female candidates for discussion; readings and movie nights about feminism; and tabling events where they hand out free condoms. Next semester, they’re also planning to start handing out emergency contraceptives.

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Note: Featured image is from one of the Feminist Union’s previous events.