STORY AND PHOTOS BY KAREN BOSSICK

The late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was there. So was singer and activist Carole King.

It’s been four years—since January 2020--since a women’s march took place in Ketchum. But about 250 men, women and children who feel strongly about women’s issues seemed to take up right where they left off as they turned out for a non-partisan Women’s March on a snowy Saturday morning that was held in tandem with marches throughout the country.

Carole King, who lives in Ketchum, bounced up the steps at Ketchum Town Square wearing a pink pussy hat that was popularized during the 2017 Women’s March.

She encouraged the crowd to speak a little louder, noting that that’s one of the best ways to evoke change. And she recounted how the candidate running against her friend Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio had said that abortion shouldn’t be an issue for women who are over 50.

“Excuse me?!” she said indignantly, noting that that she has three daughters and grandchildren and so abortion is very much a big issue for her.

“A lot of us are really nervous about this election, and I understand that. I think it would be helpful it we put optimism out there,” she added. “Inhale hope. Exhale optimism.”

Thousands of people waving the signs shouting “We Won’t Go Back!” took to the streets in Washington, D.C., Saturday afternoon, many of them wearing the same pink knit hats that Carole King did.

In Ketchum there were plenty of the “Abortion is Healthcare” signs that have become so prevalent over the past year. Other signs said: “Feminism is my Second Favorite F-Word.” “Women Just Want to Have Fun-damental Rights.” “The hardest decision a woman can make isn’t yours.” “I dream women will one day have the same rights as guns.” “Women’s Rights are Human Rights.” And “Idaho—Home of Gun Care and Health Control.”

One couple carried a sign that said, “Don’t Tread on Us,” which sported images of the scales of justice and library books. A man held a sign urging, “Put a woman in charge.”

“There should be more men. Strong men should support strong women,” said Dave Luhr of Sun Valley.

Angie Hansen dressed up as Ruth Bader Ginsburg, holding a sign that said, “We Won’t Go Back!”.

“I’m trying to be optimistic, but I ‘m scared to death about the upcoming election and everything else,” she said. “I don’t like the things I’m reading in the news, and I don’t like that men aren’t supporting women.”

George and Jane Rizzo, who own Ketchum’s Starbucks Coffee, fortified those who turned out for Saturday’s rally in Ketchum with hot chocolate topped with whipped cream and coffee cake squares.

Gini Ballou, one of the speakers at the Ketchum rally, noted that Idaho’s trigger law which went into effect after Roe vs. Wade was overturned outlawing abortion at any stage, had unintended consequences.

“I have friends in Lewiston who can’t have their seventh child born as an Idahoan—they’ve had to go to Spokane,” she said. “I had to get a hysterectomy at a young age for fibroid tumors—would that be allowed now?”

Marlin Valdivia told the crowd that Latina women don’t understand a lot of what’s going on and they’re scared.

And Sheriden Brett noted that she had to go out of state for an abortion this year after learning that her much-wanted child had Monosomy X-Turner syndrome, which meant it had a birth defect and could not survive outside the womb. Doctors have left Idaho for fear of losing their medical license or being imprisoned up to five years for providing an abortion they deem medically necessary.

“That has to be an impossible situation for most Idahoans,” she said. “We are also at risk of losing contraception and IVF (fertility treatments).”

Brooke Arby watched the proceedings with keen interest. When she was 18, she said, she learned that she was pregnant while in an abusive relationship.

“I went to a doctor in San Francisco and she said, ‘You’re not in a good place right now. Your body is not healthy and your baby is not healthy.’ And she handed me some pills. I called her two years later and told her how that one act had changed my life around. It opened the door so I could move into a much better life.”

At 92, Ketchum resident Virginia Johnson has lived through the Great Depression, World War II and the COVID pandemic, which nearly took her life. But she said life was mostly been good for her as a woman until eight years ago when the nation began taking a darker turn.

“I can’t believe the awful rhetoric I’m hearing now,” she said

Many of the marchers did one spin around the block, then decided down to double down, marching the other way down Sun Valley Road.  

Among the marchers was 15-year-old Hazel Gammon, who marched with her 11-year-old sister Ingrid.

“I’m fighting for equality, making sure I and my sister have equal rights,” said Hazel. “If we don’t fight, what’s going to happen?”

Johnson said she looks forward to marching again next year: “This time to say, ‘Hooray!’ ”

As the marchers left, Ballou reminded them to vote: “My mother stopped to vote for JFK on her way to have me. So, no excuses! Show up to vote!”