Abortion rights supporters converge at courthouse to decry Roe v Wade ruling
For nearly five decades, abortion was a legal right in the United States. Not any more.
"I look around and see all of these young women who have lost rights that I've had for 50 years," Bloomington resident Donna Kinkead said.
She was among about 150 people who gathered at a "Day of Decision" protest outside the Monroe County Courthouse Friday evening.
Earlier in the day, as had been expected, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case that legalized abortion in America.
Kinkead was a 20-year-old college student in Pennsylvania in the early 1970s. She remembers rallying for abortion rights, and celebrating when the high court ruling was announced in January 1973.
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She thought it settled the debate over abortion in the U.S.
She's attended her share of protests in her life, but never expected to carry a sign lamenting the loss of abortion rights. Not after all this time.
"I have three grown children in their 30s and they will have fewer rights that I've had," she lamented.
Kinkead and her neighbor Lori Tussey attend protests together and knew there would be one in Bloomington once word of the decision that overturned the Roe case spread.
"You can always count on Bloomington to come out at 5 o'clock to the courthouse when something big like this happens," Tussey said.
They worry that in Bloomington, it's easy to be lulled into thinking predictions such as the demise of Roe v. Wade could never happen. "I knew since they put the conservative judges on the court it was possible this was going to happen," Kinkead said.
"But I held out hope. Turns out I had a false sense of security."
The women stand with justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan, who dissented from the majority opinion.
"With sorrow — for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection — we dissent," the justices wrote.
Contact reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com, 812-331-4362 or 812-318-5967.