Abortion rights protesters tell powerful, personal stories outside Supreme Court
Pro-choice and pro-life activists protest outside of the U.S. Supreme Court (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Protestors have turned the front of the US Supreme Court building into an open-air forum on abortion amid the proposed overturning of Roe v Wade.
Supporters and opponents of abortion rights shared opinions, anecdotes and arguments on the leaked draft suggesting the court will overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 landmark rule which legalised abortion across the country.
As reported by the Associated Press, protestors from all walks of life, from newly-pregnant women to children of a family of 10, told their own stories to the public and how the leaked ruling has affected them.
Some, like Benita Lubic of Washington, took the chance to talk about their own experience with abortion. In 1968, Lubic – who already had three children – was allowed a medical abortion and a partial hysterectomy after her birth control failed.
“I’m a senior citizen so I am way past having another child,” said Lubic, now 86 years old. “But I do want to help younger people, particularly those who have been raped and abused, that they will be able to get an abortion.”
Anti-abortion activists protest outside of the US Supreme Court (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
Her daughter, Wendie Lubic, also had an abortion in 1986 after she wasn’t “ready to get married at that time”. She later did marry her partner and eventually had two daughters.
Grace Rykaczewski, an anti-abortion advocate of New Jersey conversely told the group that once Roe v Wade is overturned, “this is only the beginning”.
She then went on to explain her theorised two-step plan to “enact laws on a state level to make abortions as rare as possible” and to “make women feel like they don’t need abortions anymore”.
Rykaczewski has since said she is planning to make a return to the Supreme Court building if the court follows through with overturning
Not all pro-choice supporters were necessarily thrilled about the idea of advocating for abortion itself, as audiologist Christal Surowicz of Maryland said during her piece to the public.
“I am a strong supporter of women’s rights and I feel like abortion is a necessary evil,” she said. “We don’t think ‘let’s go out and promote abortion’, but we feel it needs to be available. The ramifications for it not being available are just too much.”
Pro-choice and pro-life activists shout each other down with megaphones outside of the U.S. Supreme Court (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
The debate on abortion rights has once again sparked in the US after the controversial document vowing to overturn the 1973 decision to legalise abortion nationwide was leaked. Several opposers of the leaked document, including president Joe Biden, have said it denies “women their rights and freedoms.”
“How dare they tell a woman what she can do and cannot do with her own body?” vice president Kamala Harris said on May 3. “How dare they try to stop her from determining her own future.”
