Bucks County women call Roe v. Wade decision 'heartbreaking,' say fight will continue

Vicky was 26 when she had an abortion. She was in an abusive relationship at the time and terrified if she went through with the pregnancy, there would be no way out, no way to keep both herself and her baby safe from their father.

“I was torn and scared when I had to make the choice, but I don’t have any regrets. I wasn’t ready to be a mom and I didn’t want to worry about him hurting our child,” said Vicky, a Bucks County resident who declined to provide her last name for fear of retribution.

Friday's U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to an abortion left her and abortion rights activists shaken, and both sides gearing up for what they said would be a continued fight over abortion access in Pennsylvania, where the practice remains legal up to the 24th week of pregnancy.

Melissa Reed, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Keystone said Pennsylvania would become an even greater "access point" for abortion care, and local centers will need to serve a growing number of women from other states where abortion is now outlawed by the decision.

Based in Warminster, Planned Parenthood Keystone works with chapters in Harrisburg and Philadelphia to provide reproductive health services to more than 22,000 women per year, said Reed. Every year, the organization performs about 7,500 medically induced or surgical abortions.

“We are growing our abortion assistance fund to ensure that patients can access care, no matter their ability to pay," Reed said in a statement Friday. “We will fight like hell to make sure everyone has access to the care they need, the ability to control their own bodies, and build their own futures — no matter where they’re from.”

On the other side of the debate, representatives of the Pro-Life Union of Greater Philadelphia said the ruling is a challenge to all Americans to love and support mothers through pregnancy.

“In many ways, the fight for Pennsylvania’s unborn children is just beginning,” said Tom Stevens, the group's president and CEO. “Now we will work to ensure the legal protection of all our citizens from the moment of conception, and we will redouble our efforts in assisting every mother who needs help during and after her pregnancy."

The group later said in a statement that it would focus its energies on legally banning all abortions in the state, and providing more resources to expectant mothers.

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Women who had abortions express concern for future

Vicky called Friday's decision "heartbreaking."

"If I had the baby, what could’ve happened? Would I have ever left?” she said. “I’m so scared for young women who are in an abusive relationship and get pregnant and now they’re stuck.”

Jenny Klock, of Horsham, also was heartbroken, and infuriated, by the news.

More than two decades ago, at 20 years old and unexpectedly pregnant, she weighed her options and decided an abortion was her best choice.

“I was neither emotionally secure nor financially prepared. The timing was just not right for me. And it was my choice and nobody else’s but mine to make,” said Klock, who is now 47 years old with a daughter. “This new ruling has got me so upset for young women all over the U.S. that they won’t have the same choice that I did.”

She hasn’t given up hope, however. With her own mother in mind, who marched for civil rights and women’s rights in the '60s and '70s, Klock isn’t ready to back down.

“She always instilled in me to fight for what I believe in,” said Klock. “There has to be something we can do. We are going to have to make our voices heard. I’m an optimist I always have hope for change.”

“I know there’ll be a lot of fighting ahead and I’ll be there. I’ll be there on the front lines, me and my daughter, at any protest, doing what we have to do,” she said.

Kelly DeJong can only imagine how much harder her life would’ve been if she hadn’t had an abortion years ago. She was 19 years old and had big dreams as a college student studying to become an architect.

Now at 43, DeJong has the life she had always hoped for, which includes a successful career in architecture and a family she built once she was ready to have one.

DeJong feels in taking away reproductive rights, women lose the futures they choose for themselves.

“The life that I have right now, I have because I was able to get a safe abortion,” said DeJong, who is now married with two children and living in Plumstead. “I’ve lived a happy adult life as a result of the freedom I’ve experienced, and I don’t think any woman deserves to have their freedom taken away.”

Abortions on the decline in Pennsylvania

In 1973, Roe v. Wade changed the legal status of abortion by striking down a Texas law that criminalized abortion. However, the justices later ruled that states could withhold government funds for abortion programs and establish conditions such as a 24-hour waiting period or parental consent for minors to terminate a pregnancy.

The number of abortions has been on the decline in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported 31,018 abortions in 2019, the latest available data. That was down from 37,284 abortions reported in 2009. In Bucks County, 778 procedures took place in 2019, according to the state.

Figures provided by the health department show abortions as most common in women between the ages of 20 and 29 years old, who made up 57% of abortion procedures in 2019. Fewer than 8% of abortions were among young women ages 19 and younger.

Nearly all abortions ― 90% ― took place in the first trimester of pregnancy. The state reported no abortions beyond 24 weeks of pregnancy in 2019.

Meanwhile, public attitudes surrounding abortion have changed little over the past 20 years.

Annual telephone interviews conducted by the Gallup organization have asked, "Do you think abortions should be legal under any circumstances, legal only under certain circumstances, or illegal in all circumstances?"

Half of those surveyed said they believed abortion should be legal in some situations. Thirty percent said abortion should be legal in any situation. Twenty percent would make abortion illegal regardless of circumstances.

Archbishop of Philadelphia Nelson Perez issued the following statement on CatholicPhilly within minutes of the announcement:

"I am grateful to the justices of the Supreme Court of the United States for their willingness to hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, and for their opinion, which affirms the deep value inherent to every human life.­

"As Catholics, we believe that life is God’s most precious gift and that we share a responsibility to uphold its beauty and sanctity from conception to natural death. In addition to being strong advocates for the unborn, this responsibility extends to caring for the hungry, the poor, the sick, the immigrant, the elderly, the oppressed, and any of our brothers and sisters who are marginalized. In short, to be truly pro-life means to recognize the presence of God in everyone and to care for them accordingly."

The Pro-Life Coalition of Pennsylvania was planning a series of Masses of Thanksgiving for the ruling at churches throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania, including the Cathedral of Sts. Peter & Paul in Philadelphia. The group also planned to hold "public witness" outside the Philadelphia Women's Center abortion facility in the city on Saturday morning.

"The U.S. Supreme Court's Jan. 22, 1973 Roe v. Wade decision has proven to be a deadly and unjust distortion of our nation's Constitution," the group's president, Michael McMonagle, said in a statement. "We welcome its reversal, with joy and fortitude, as a necessary step toward achieving our mission, which is to have every child in Pennsylvania welcome in life and protected by law."

Future of abortion in Pennsylvania

At a noon press conference Friday, Planned Parenthood's Reed outlined the challenges facing abortion providers.

Planned Parenthood Keystone expects a 500% increase in abortion services provided as more women travel to Pennsylvania to terminate pregnancies, Reed said.

Patients will primarily travel from Ohio and West Virginia. Others may come from as far as Kentucky and Texas seeking medical care.

Deaths from self-managed abortions pursued outside of the health care system “may become more common,” said Reed. “To make sure that people continue to receive safe and accessible care, we need to make it legal.”

Reed described the court’s decision as “catastrophic,” particularly for Black, Latino and low-income Americans. “This decision means that 36 million people could lose access to abortion care,” Reed estimated. “We know that poor, Black, and other historically marginalized people will be most negatively impacted, because we’ve seen this play out already in states like Texas.”

Maggie Groff, who follows reproductive health issues for the Bucks County Women's Advocacy Coalition, said the decision opens the door to other privacy matters where Roe was cited involving women’s health, such as birth control, as well as gay rights, gay marriage and medical privacy. 

“There is so much to be seen about how this is going to play out.”  

One thing Groff is confident about is that the ability to access abortion will look very different than before the original 1973 decision.  

The internet and social media did not exist like they do now. Abortion does not carry the same social stigma as it did before Roe Vs. Wade, when accessing providers was largely done in secret.

“There are already organizations clearly working and making it clear we will help you get an abortion in another state (where it is legal),” Groff said. 

In the 14 states with trigger laws where abortion is immediately outlawed by Friday’s decision, Groff believes the next steps anti-choice lawmakers will attempt is to restrict the ability of women seeking an abortion to leave the state.

“I think states will try and figure out ways they can restrict that,” she said. “It’s going to be chaos. This patchwork of laws that will differ from state to state. It’s frightening.”  

She added the Supreme Court decision will not eliminate access to abortion, only make it harder especially for minors, single mothers, the poor and other marginalized communities. 

“Abortion has always existed and women have always sought out abortion services when they need or want them and I don’t think that is going to change,” she said.

Bucks County politicians react to decision

Republicans in the General Assembly have attempted to pass measures banning abortion, but none have made it past Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf's desk. That all could change, however, in this year's election, which will decide Pennsylvania's next governor, as well as members of the General Assembly, U.S. Senate and congressional seats in Bucks and Montgomery counties.

In a statement, incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick took the middle ground and urged state legislatures to “always start from a place of empathy and compassion” with any decisions it will consider in light of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

Fitzpatrick, who is anti-abortion, noted that the “vast and overwhelming majority” of Americans “do no support rigid, single-party, all-or-nothing solutions.”   

He also urged state legislatures to support “two-party” solutions, citing as an example the 2017 Pain-capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which sought to make it a crime under most conditions to attempt or perform an abortion after 20 weeks.

The bill passed in the House, and had support from Pennsylvania Democrat Sen. Bob Casey. Fitzpatrick was unsure Friday about the status of the bill, but said it would likely be reintroduced. 

“Any legislative consideration must start with the process of seeing the world through other people’s eyes, and walking the world in other people’s shoes,” Fitzpatrick added. “Any legislative consideration must always seek to achieve bipartisan consensus that both respects a woman’s privacy and autonomy, and also respects the sanctity of human life.”

Casey, who is anti-abortion but supports the right for women to choose, on Friday painted the court's decision as just the first salvo in an ongoing war against women by the Republican Party.

“This is not the end goal, it’s just the beginning," he said in a statement. "Republicans in Congress want to pass federal legislation to completely ban abortion. Our daughters and granddaughters should not grow up with fewer rights than their mothers.”

Democrat Ashley Ehasz, who is challenging Fitzpatrick in the November election, called the decision a "dark day in America's history."

"After decades of right-wing attacks on reproductive health care, this reckless decision is a devastating blow to our movement for reproductive justice," she said. "Millions of people will be forced to go to dangerous lengths to get a once-safe procedure, which will in turn cost lives.

"To all the women, parents, activists, and families who fought for safe and legal abortions two generations ago, just to see them lost now — I am sorry. I am sorry that the leadership of our country — the country I was willing to fight and die for — has failed you."

State Sen. Steve Santarsiero, D-10, of Lower Makefield, called the ruling "unacceptable."

“Today, and every day, I stand in support of a women’s right to make her own reproductive decisions and that includes access to a safe and legal abortion," he said. "... By removing a national framework for women’s access to abortion, every state is left to determine the right to reproductive freedom. While abortion remains legal in Pennsylvania today, Republicans in our legislature will make every effort to overturn women's reproductive rights here in the Commonwealth.  We have come too far to turn back the clock now.  I will continue to fight to protect women’s health care and defend access to abortion in the Commonwealth.”  

State Sen. Marie Collett, D-12, Lower Gwynedd, said the decision "is about controlling and subjugating women."

“Dobbs flat-out invites challenges of other hard-won rights — including the right to access contraception and the right to marry whomever you love, regardless of their race or gender," she said in a statement. "And while today it is the so-called 'Left' that’s reeling, this decision has the potential to impact rights like the right to refuse vaccinations and the right to home-school one’s children.”

Abortion rights rallies were planned Friday evening in Doylestown, Sellersville and Middletown, where Ehasz and other Democratic candidates were joining the group Indivisible Bucks County outside Fitzpatrick's district office.

"My great grandmother made the difficult decision to terminate some of her pregnancies; contraception was limited, and although she was Catholic, they couldn’t afford a larger family,” Ann Marie Mitchell, Democratic candidate for Pennsylvania's 6th Senate district, said in a statement. "We do not want to return to the days when people have to put their lives at great risk over a private and deeply personal health care choice."