What Roe v. Wade overturning means to anyone seeking abortion on Treasure Coast

As the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision has been overturned, at least one women’s health care and abortion provider representative on the Treasure Coast said there could be little local impact if state laws don’t change.

In the ruling Friday, Associate Justice Samuel Alito wrote the opinion for a 6-3 majority of the justices that the right to end a pregnancy was not found in the text of the U.S. Constitution nor the nation's history.

Forty-nine years ago, the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, in January 1973, said the Constitution generally protects a pregnant woman's liberty to choose to have an abortion. The historic decison paved the way for wider access to abortion services over the years.

Laura Goodhue, executive director of the Florida Alliance of Planned Parenthood Affiliates, said with the constitutional right weakened, “it goes back to the state legislatures to decide.”

“In Florida, our constitution that the citizens have approved and amended over the years, actually provides us with a stronger right to privacy,” Goodhue said. “It says that the government shall not intrude on our personal private lives and our decisions, so that has been extended to abortion access in the court historically.”

Planned Parenthood, which offers services including birth control and pregnancy testing along with abortions, has a Treasure Coast location in Port St. Lucie.

More: Abortions in Florida: What's legal and what will get you arrested in Gov. DeSantis' state?

Efforts by phone and email to reach representatives for comment from A Woman’s World Medical Center in Fort Pierce, which also provides abortions, were not successful.

Goodhue called the overturning of Roe v. Wade “a huge danger flag that has been raised.”

“We (are) on a precipice of losing access,” she said. “But people will not lose access to reproductive health care immediately.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis in April signed the state's most restrictive abortion regulations since the Roe v. Wade decision established abortion as a constitutional right in 1973. Abortions are now banned in Florida after 15 weeks. They had been legal before the third trimester, or 24 weeks. The law takes effect July 1.

But the abortion ban is widely expected to be challenged and the case will likely land before the Florida Supreme Court, where DeSantis has appointed three of the sitting seven justices.

Goodhue said in their health centers they have had to change some things already because of state law changes elsewhere.

“We're really busy with patients from as far away as Texas right now. Because they are passing laws in states like Texas, Oklahoma, those two states have all-out bans,” Goodhue said. “Right now, you can't get an abortion in either of those huge states.”

More: How Florida's 15-week abortion ban would affect care for pregnant people on Treasure Coast

Care Net Pregnancy Center of Indian River County, which offers pregnancy tests and various referrals, did not respond to inquiries.

A representative of Women's Care Center in Fort Pierce, a free pregnancy counseling center that doesn't refer to abortion services but discusses the option with its pregnant clients, declined comment.

The Supreme Court decision doesn't spell an end to pro-choice activism, said Martin County resident Rosemary Westling, 69.

"We will mobilize and we will march," said Westling, who said she became an activist after President Donald Trump's election in 2016, but has supported Roe v. Wade since its inception. "The answer is to vote out every Republican."

Westling criticized the majority justices for the decision and said they're compelled by religious zealotry to strike down the federal guarantee to a right to abortion.

"When I was a young woman, we fought for our right to control our bodies and not have the government or church have control over it," she said. "We celebrated when Roe v. Wade was sanctioned by the Court."

Westling said she values abortion because of the conditions that could occur in a pregnancy that could put a woman's life in jeopardy.

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Will Greenlee is a breaking news reporter for TCPalm. Follow Will on Twitter @OffTheBeatTweet or reach him by phone at 772-267-7926. E-mail him at will.greenlee@tcpalm.com

Lamaur Stancil is the Treasure Coast regional economy reporter covering business and industries, including retail, tourism and hospitality. Contact him at 321-987-7179 or lamaur.stancil@tcpalm.com and follow him at Lamaur Stancil on Facebook and @TCPalmLStancil on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: What overturned Roe v. Wade decision could mean on Treasure Coast