LYNCHBURG, Va. (WFXR) — In downtown Lynchburg, the streets became divided — both literally and figuratively — on Monday over the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Abortion-rights advocates and anti-abortion protesters took to the streets of Lynchburg to support their stances on Monday, June against the ruling as well as celebrators of the ruling took to the streets to support their opinions.
On one side of the street in Lynchburg, abortion-rights advocates protested against the reversal Roe V. Wade, calling for something to be done to offer some kind of federal protection for the procedure. On the other side, anti-abortion protesters celebrated the overturned legislation and even called for Virginia to take measures to further regulate abortions.
Meanwhile, police stood guard between the two groups of dueling protesters.
“We should have the right to protect ourselves from our own bodies and it’s not about pregnancy and it’s not about abortion. Kids were never in the picture for us,” said Katherine Buoanno, a protester against the overturning.
Lynchburg is home to Buoanno because her wife is here — a wife who came to protest less than two weeks after major surgery.
“I am afraid of losing more rights than I already have and I was terrified to come out, especially when I heard there would be an anti-protest,” said Buoanno.
Anti-abortion protesters like Caleb Decker were there for religious reasons.
“My beliefs in God teach me that killing is wrong, and God defines murder as the shedding of blood and a baby gets its own blood in the first few days after conception,” said Decker.
He even brought his son out to the protest as many other anti-abortion protesters did.
“He’s part of the reason that we understand what life becomes once it’s out of the womb,” said Decker.
The Hill City, like much of the rest of the nation, remains divided while waiting to see what comes next from this major Supreme Court decision.
