Marylanders React To Supreme Court Possibly Overturning Roe V. Wade
ANNAPOLIS (WJZ) -- As word spread about a leaked document that suggested the U.S. Supreme Court is considering overturning Roe v. Wade, the decision which legalized abortion, personal conversations on the topic were suddenly out in the open.
People were no longer holding back.
"I don't agree with that," said Francine McKoy who spoke with WJZ near downtown Baltimore. "I think it's a woman's decision on what she does with her body."
"It brings tears to your eyes that you'd be actually let a group of men tell us what we could do with our bodies," one woman told WJZ. She also said she's never had an abortion, but worries for women who may have been raped.
"How concerning is this possibility to you?" Ava-joye Burnett asked a father.
"I have daughters," Chris Clanton of Baltimore said. "I have daughters, so this is a real concern. I have sisters. I don't want them to ever feel like they're forced to do anything that they don't want to do with their body."
WJZ interviewed several people and in the blue state of Maryland, many of the respondents supported abortion.
WJZ also interviewed an Annapolis resident who had just left Catholic mass. He said that every unborn child should have the right to live.
"Because you never know that person who was saved from abortion what that person could turn out to be," Jack Casey said.
Another man who did not identify himself said the topic of abortion "is a very controversial issue" and that "there are good arguments on both sides."
"I'm glad that there are 50 different states in the United States so that it becomes more of a state issue or even a county by county issue," he said.
A Planned Parenthood doctor said if Roe v. Wade is eventually overturned, he would be disappointed but not surprised.
"When abortion is not legal, it doesn't go away. It just becomes unsafe because people will find the way to have an abortion no matter what," Dr. Kyle Bukowski, the Chief Medical Officer of Planned Parenthood, said. "I'm an obstetrician. I love delivering babies. I love taking care of pregnant people, and I also recognize that pregnancy can be a very dangerous time for people so what we will see is more pregnancy complications."
Planned Parenthood reminded patients that abortion is still legal and they should seek the care they need.