“Sad, angry, shocked, mad": Athens pro-abortion demonstrators grapple with the end of Roe

Emotions ran high as hundreds gathered on College Square in Athens the day after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. For two hours, pro-abortion demonstrators chanted, marched and mourned the expected heavy-handed restrictions on abortion in Georgia.

“We knew it was coming, but it's still very overwhelming when it actually happened,” said one attendee, Olivia McKinney. “Sad, angry, shocked, mad. Every emotion right now.”

Saturday’s rally took place 26 hours after the opinion from the highest court in the land came down. While groups such as the Athens Area Democratic Socialists of America, Athens Reproductive Justice Collective, Party for Socialism and Liberation, and Students for Socialism organized the rally, individuals in the crowd also had their own stories to share.

Read more:5 things to know for Georgia after Roe v. Wade overturned

Sharing Stories

Holding signs such as “an abortion saved people I love” and “pro-choice is pro-life,” most everyone that day knew someone who had an abortion. Those willing to share stressed the importance of discussing abortions after the SCOTUS ruling.

Asher, who declined to give his last name for safety reasons, carried a sign saying, “Abortion saved my mom’s life.” He explained that as a toddler his mother discovered she was pregnant with another child.

“She was very excited about it. I remember being a child and seeing how happy she was about it,” he said. “One day that just sort of disappeared and I didn’t really understand it. We sort of just stopped talking about it. Later, I learned she had an ectopic pregnancy and it was going to kill her.”

Anti-abortion activists, he said, were wrong to call terminating a pregnancy “baby-killing.” 

“If she hadn’t gotten an abortion, then my two younger siblings wouldn’t have been born. My mother would be dead,” he said. “There is more life in my family because she had an abortion.” 

Madison Melzer's friend had an abortion several months ago. She explained with tears in her eyes that the abortion, which took place just before the SCOTUS draft opinion leaked, was also life-saving.

“My friend would have died if she did not have a medically necessary abortion,” said Melzer.

Stephanie Rivers also had an abortion. She was in her early 20s, in college, and living in New York. 

“I hate that people today are going to be more concerned than people when Roe v. Wade was first passed,” said Rivers.

More:Shrinking abortion access in a post-Roe society will harm the most marginalized in Georgia

Jacqueline Adams, a member of the Athens Pride and Queer Collective, is another person who had an abortion, a story she shared with the crowd. 

If not her for abortion, Adams said the trajectory of her life would have been radically different. Without it, she would likely have remained closeted, would not have received her doctorate and stayed with her abusive ex-partner.

Adams was living in the South and had to cross state lines for her abortion, from Kentucky to Tennessee. She faced barriers to receive her abortion, from travel to financial.

“I definitely went into debt to be able to afford it,” said Adams.

Adams went to Planned Parenthood in Nashville and received a pill to terminate her pregnancy. The pain lasted a day.

“I was fortunate enough to have a vehicle but I didn't have anybody that could come with me because at the time I was low [socio-economic status]. I was working at Barnes and Noble, so I didn't make a really big hourly wage,” said Adams. “So I had to go alone and it was very scary.”

Related:Georgia was a 'safe haven' for out-of-state abortion seekers. But where will they go now?

People Need a Choice

Tania Yelton did not have an abortion, despite getting pregnant at 14 years old. But she thinks everyone should have the choice.

Yelton hid her pregnancy and didn’t know that abortion was an option. Because of this, she continued with her pregnancy and put her child up for adoption.

Yelton doesn’t know if she would have had an abortion if she knew in time that it was an option. What she does know, she said, is that people should have the choice.

“I want to make sure, like I had a choice back then, everybody else has a choice,” said Yelton.