NARAL Pro-Choice Washington, along with other advocacy groups including Planned Parenthood, will no longer be allowed to have a table at West Seattle Summerfest because of concerns by the fest’s organizers, the West Seattle Junction Association, that protests by anti-choice groups included graphic material—namely, pictures of aborted fetuses—that was inappropriate for the annual family gathering in West Seattle’s Alaska Junction district.
NARAL director Lauren Simonds says Junction Association director Susan Melrose told her that “in recent years, the other side hasn’t really appreciated the community aspect of the Summerfest in terms of their visuals.” The ban effects not just pro-and anti-choice groups, but all advocacy groups and religious organizations.
Melrose did not want to speak on the record about the controversy, but said she could confirm Simond’s account of why NARAL was told they couldn’t table at Summerfest, which she called “a community celebration.”
Simonds says NARAL has had a table at Summerfest for nine years; she does not know how many anti-choice protesters have showed up in the past. She says she told Melrose, “As a private organization, they have a right to decide who has a right to table, but she said they felt they didn’t want to have to have arguments about the issue” of abortion.
The West Seattle Summerfest takes place this weekend, July 9-11.
