Washington: Three activists of a Austin-based abortion group stripped down to their underwear during church service in US' Texas.
According to The Independent, during the Sunday service at Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas, the three women stood up and shouted “my body, my choice” and “overturn Roe, hell no!” while stripping out of their clothes.
The incident happened when Pastor Joel Osteen’s had just finished leading a prayer and the congregants were taking their seats at the Church.
Later, Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights posted a video of the protest in social media.
In the video, two women could be seen removing their clothes and shouting slogans.
The Independent quoted the activists as saying that the decision to protest inside the megachurch in Texas was taken because anti-abortion activists never have any issue protesting against women at their safe spaces – like doctors’ offices and clinics.
One of the activists said, "Christians are not afraid to bother us at health care clinics, at doctors’ offices [where we’re] trying to get essential health care so why the f*** wouldn’t we bother you in your own home where the laws are coming from."
The activists were escorted outside the church but they continued their protest and members joined them with placards reading “forced motherhood is female enslavement” and “abortion on demand & without apology”.
"Joel Osteen has an international audience and silence is violence when it comes to things like these. We have a very unprecedented and very short amount of time to garner the attention that we need to get millions of people on the streets, millions of people doing actions like we were today," KPRC 2 quoted Julianne D’Eredita, one of the activists.
While the Pastor did not reacted to the protest, the church removed the live stream of the service.
According to The Independent, the protest was in response to a draft decision leaked in May suggesting the Supreme Court was aiming to overturn Roe v Wade later this year.
The leaked documents had stated that five of the nine Supreme Court justices sided with the decision authored by Justice Samuel Alito, sparking fresh protest across the country. (UNI)
