Local citizens split over Roe v. Wade

Jun. 26—Some local residents said the overturning of Roe v. Wade on Friday will protect God-given life, but others said the Supreme Court's ruling denies women control of their bodies, could force rape victims to give birth and doesn't guarantee "quality of life" for a child.

"I feel like you should have a choice," said Tonya James, 26, of Decatur. "If you have a situation like rape, how is it their choice to say? It's a traumatic thing to happen to somebody and for you to say I've got to keep my baby because somebody raped me."

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled there's no constitutional right to an abortion, and it had an immediate effect in Alabama. The state's three abortion clinics, including one in Huntsville, stopped providing abortions Friday as a 2019 law banning the procedure took effect, according to The Associated Press.

State Attorney General Steve Marshall, a vocal critic of Roe, said abortion providers operating in violation of state law, "should immediately cease and desist operations."

The end of abortions was welcomed by many in the state. Tori Johnson, 27, of Trinity, said she is anti-abortion and agreed with the ruling.

"Some situations aren't the best in the world, but it's a hard subject," Johnson said. "There's a lot of people who wouldn't have had a full life and lived out their purpose (if they had been aborted)."

Abortion-rights advocates had a different view. James said it was not fair to women to be told what to do with their bodies.

"If it was a man, they wouldn't have the same right," she said. "It would be totally different. This law wouldn't even be put into place. It would be nonexistent."

There are cases where children are raped, James said, and they should not be made to go through a pregnancy and delivery.

"That's a lot to go through. Especially as a child, your mind's not fully developed," she said.

Alabama's 2019 abortion ban doesn't include exceptions for rape or incest. State Rep. Terri Collins of Decatur, a sponsor of the 2019 law, has said that once Roe v. Wade was overturned, she would support a new law that includes those exceptions and only bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detectable.

The 2019 state abortion ban took effect Friday after a federal judge granted the state's request to lift an injunction that had blocked its enforcement. The only exception to the ban is for the sake of the mother's health.

"Today is a truly historic day," Marshall said. "The United States Supreme Court has, at long last, finally overturned its fatally flawed decision in Roe v. Wade. The issue of abortion now returns to the states — and the State of Alabama has unequivocally elected to be a protector of unborn life."

Kevin Johnson, 30 from Trinity, said he supports banning abortion and that all babies deserve a chance to live because God made them.

Elayne Shelton, Limestone County Democratic Party chair, said Friday's ruling was devastating.

"It is not a pro-life decision, it is an anti-woman decision," Shelton said. "We have clearly been told by an extreme minority of Americans that women hold no value except to serve as a vessel for fetuses."

Shelton said abortion-rights advocates will rebound and find ways around the ruling.

"We will not be oppressed or controlled or abused," she said.

Daylan Woodall, senior pastor at First Missionary Baptist Church in Decatur, said the movement known as "pro-life" should be about more than just the birth.

"My hope is that as a country we develop a consistent pro-life ethic which means caring for life at conception and beyond conception."

Woodall said being "pro-life" also means being concerned about children's quality of life and their safety.

"I hope as a nation we continue to find a way to treat people as fellow Americans and neighbors and we continue to strive to be loving," he said.

Billy Hatfield, 32, from Elkmont, said the Supreme Court ruling was a mistake.

"Women should have the right to choose in all cases, not just rape and incest."

Ken Hines, of Athens, is an abortion-rights supporter and said there will be many women suffering now because of the ruling.

"It will, without any doubt at all, most severely affect poor people, working people. It will have much less impact on wealthy people and middle-class people who still will have options," he said.

Hines said the ruling is tragic.

"We had recognized at one time that the consequences of pregnancy were so great for some people that having the option to terminate the pregnancy was a humane thing to do. There are economic circumstances, there are social circumstances, some women were not sufficiently mature," Hines said.

Hines said those circumstances will still be true, "but the solution that we had for that has been taken away."

—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.