HOUSTON – A battle about abortion rights was front and center on Sunday at Lakewood Church as activists interrupted its morning service -- they say to bring attention to the controversial topic.
“It’s my body, my choice,” was yelled by protestors, disrupting Sunday service in Houston. They continued shouting words like, “I have a choice!” in hopes of delivering their message.
The protestors were with an organization called Rise Up Abortion Rights. Recently, they have been calling for the Supreme Court to uphold Roe v. Wade.
Abortion rights have been a topic of discussion following the leaked draft opinion that was obtained and released by Politico, indicating that the Supreme Court would possibly overturn Roe v. Wade.
The state of Texas has already joined other red states in passing a restrictive abortion law, “The heartbeat Bill” that bans the procedure after about six weeks of pregnancy. Despite the Heart Beat Bill, abortion still remains legal in Texas.
“I know it seems really outrageous to do it in a church, in a private space; however, the people who are enforcing these laws have no qualms coming up to women in private spaces such as doctors’ offices and medical clinics to harass them and call them murderers,” said Julianne D’eredita, a member of Rise Up Abortion.
A video posted by the organization shows the moment the protest began with Pastor Joel Osteen speaking over them saying, “In Jesus name!”
Lakewood members cheered Osteen on -- some shouting themselves -- as protesters were escorted out of the church.
The group continued to protest outside.
“Joel Osteen has an international audience and silence is violence when it comes to things like these,” D’eredita said.
But was it effective?
Someone posed that question -- online -- adding not many could hear the message via live stream.
To that, organizers say it was.
“We have a very unprecedented and very short amount of time to garner the attention that we need millions of people in the street,” D’eredita said. “Millions of people doing actions like we did today.”
Osteen has not said anything publicly about the draft leak or about his stance on the ongoing debate.
KPRC 2 has reached out to Lakewood for comment but has not received a response as of this writing.