RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — One block south of the Virginia State Capitol, hundreds of people gathered Tuesday to protest a leaked draft opinion from the US Supreme Court to reverse Roe V. Wade.
Fifty years after the landmark ruling, the debate over abortion rages on.
“My body, my choice. My body, my choice,” was chanted by the abortion-rights group standing across the street from a federal courthouse, next to the capitol complex Tuesday.
Protesting for the right to choose, the crowd in downtown Richmond was sparked to action by the leaked document that stoked the fires of their fears.
“We have been hearing about Roe being taken from us for years, and it’s gonna happen. It’s gonna happen,” one woman said.
Debbie Reed and her daughter Shannon Reed were there to advocate for abortion protections.
“I had a friend in high school that had an illegal abortion…” “[she] traveled to a different city, took her life in her hands,” Debbie Reed said
“I’m happily married and one day in the future I may have children, but that is still my choice and no man gets to tell me if and when I have that choice,” Shannon Reed said.
While no anti-abortion groups appeared to be at the rally, they have paraded the city’s streets before.
Just last week, an anti-abortion “March For Life” prompted the governor to join.
Victoria Cobb of the Family Foundation is elated with the chance for the US Supreme Court to overrule their 1973 decision.
“What we want to see is a return to those common-sense things like women having full, informed consent,” Cobb said. “…That once a child feels pain that that’s the point at which we say, ‘ok, we’re not going to have an abortion at this point.’”
The Family Foundation is a group that’s self-described as an advocate “for policies based on biblical principles.”
A Nexstar/Emerson College poll among Virginia voters took place just before the last election in Nov., asking people about their positions on abortion. According to the poll, 32% of people said it should always be legal, while 14% said abortion should always be illegal.
The poll showed that 50% of people fell somewhere in the middle.
A spokesperson for the Catholic Diocese of Richmond said “the information circulating is not the official opinion of the Supreme Court” and they won’t comment at this time “out of the respect for the judicial process.”
