Update: Susan Bartlett led the march; Madeleine Kunin and Cheryl Rivers flanked Shumlin at City Hall; Doug Racine led by modest example simply by showing up; Melinda Moulton vowed her support after telling a moving story of her mother’s early (and likely childbearing-related) death. There were women and men in attendance from as far away as Windsor County. It was a good turnout despite the weather. And good for Bartlett and Racine for continuing to turn out to get Peter Shumlin elected.

Today, Sunday, October 24, at noon, women will march from the Unitarian Church at the top of Church St in Burlington to City Hall. Women will express their support of the only major party candidate running for governor who fully believes in a woman’s right to medical privacy in reproductive decision-making and has pledged to protect that right: Peter Shumlin.

As Deb Markowitz said last week, “Brian Dubie has had the chance to answer this question at least five times: So Brian, would you restrict a woman’s right to choose if you become governor? Yes or No?”

And for those who think this issue “doesn’t matter,” here’s what front pager Julie Waters had to say in a comment on another diary:

Actually… his stand on abortion matters quite a bit[. I]f Dubie appoints a lot of similarly anti-abortion people to key AHS positions, they might not be able to legally prevent women from making their own choices, but they could set up scenarios designed to play on the fears of women who might be inclined to terminate their pregnancies, especially if they’re women seeking public services.

Not to mention potential bureaucratic roadblocks and backlogs, such as those facing people who need food assistance (more than 30 day delay in review of applications) in the new “streamlined” system engineered by the Republicans.

Join us in Burlington. For yourself and your daughters.