"Young women will come of age with fewer rights than their mothers"
The Supreme Court ruled Friday that Americans no longer have a constitutional right to abortion, a watershed decision that overturned Roe v. Wade and erased a reproductive right that had been in place for nearly five decades.
In the court's most closely watched and controversial case in years, a majority of the justices – all of whom were appointed by Republican presidents – decided that the right to end a pregnancy was not covered by the Constitution nor the nation's history.
Across Jacksonville and the state of Florida — which for now, allows abortions through the 24th week of pregnancy (though a new law will change that figure to 15 weeks starting this Friday — groups rallied against the landmark ruling.
In Jacksonville, local members of the Florida Planned Parenthood PAC stood in a line outside City Hall holding hands. Some were stoic, others had tears welling up in their eyes. They gathered — along with representatives doing the same in Miami and Tampa — to speak out against the Supreme Court's decision.
"Today I woke up holding my breath, reached for my phone and began refreshing my Twitter feed compulsively," said Abbey Vickery, a local reproductive rights activist. "When I saw the news, I sat in all of the emotions I already knew were coming. The same ones that are so familiar to all of us — hurt, scared, furious."
Vickery went on to say that the decision over whether someone should or should not be able to get an abortion should be left to the people with uteruses who are capable of getting pregnant.
"I, the owner of a uterus, which could one day house a fetus, might be qualified to speak on this assault to my freedoms," she said, adding concerns that less access to abortions will harm underrepresented groups — particularly Black women.
Also in attendance was Baileigh Johnson, an activist who was raised Southern Baptist and had an abortion when she was 29-years-old. Johnson wore a shirt that said "KEEP ABORTION SAFE." She has spoken out in the past about the importance of abortion access and how it saved her life — she found out she was pregnant shortly after being diagnosed with depression.
Johnson received her abortion after six weeks and one day, which could have been considered illegal if she were in a different state than Florida. Starting July 1, a law preventing abortions after 15 weeks, signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis, will go into effect. But many people who are pregnant may not know they have conceived by then.
Johnson emphasized the need for abortions to be "normalized."
"One in four reproductive people will have an abortion in their lifetime," she said. "Our opposition tried to marginalize us, but we are in the majority."
She added, "abortions save lives — it saved mine too."
Later that day, Jacksonville's Women's March chapter hosted a protest in front of the courthouse. Thousands showed up and marched through the streets downtown.
Between events, I met Shyanne, a 20-year-old who heard the news at home and started crying.
She grabbed some markers and posterboard and headed downtown.
"I can't believe they're still doing this sh*t," she told me. "It's not going to stop abortions, just safe abortions."
Her sign read "WHAT NEXT, MY RIGHT 2 VOTE?" in bright pink and purple.
I'm going to continue covering this topic this week and am looking to chat with students and student-aged people in Jacksonville about how they're feeling.
Are you a young person with thoughts about Roe v. Wade being overturned? I'd love to chat with you about it for an upcoming story. Please reach out.
Emily Bloch is a youth culture and education reporter for The Florida Times-Union. Follow her on Twitter or email her. Sign up for her newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: "Young women will come of age with fewer rights than their mothers"
