Bay Area anti-abortion advocates cheer Supreme Court decision
SAN FRANCISCO -- There's a lot of nuance to public attitudes about Roe v. Wade, as the opinions expressed by two women KPIX 5 spoke with Friday showed.
Former Bay Area resident Kimberly Maier shared a personal story about the birth of one of her children. She says she supports the Supreme Court ruling on Friday.
"I feel today is a victory for people. I think it should be made harder to make that choice to have an abortion," the former San Ramon resident said.
Maier has two children, including her six years old named Finn who has Down syndrome.
When she got her baby's Down syndrome diagnosis early on, she wasn't sure if she would go on with the pregnancy and struggled with the decision.
"I did, because I was ignorant. I did not know what that meant," Maier explained. "I think when people get that diagnosis such as myself -- early on at 11 or 12 weeks when I got it -- I thought my world was ending. I thought I wasn't going to be able to do anything fun. I thought that meant he's going to have all these issues that would prevent us from having a good time."
On Friday, KPIX 5 spoke with Maier on a car ride headed to the beach with her kids, having fun near her new home of San Diego. She is very much aware of the emotionally charged nature of the debate on both sides .
"I know it's controversial because some people may be raped or child trafficking or in another situation where they don't have a choice. So I realize that's another topic in an in and of itself, said Maier. "But I'm not worried that women are going to have a harder time and have medical mishaps that go along with that ."
She credits a very strong influence in her life for helping decide the best path.
"My mother was a special ed teacher and she is a strong Catholic. And I asked her, 'Mom would you support my choice no matter what as my mother?' And she said, 'No, I'm sorry, I wouldn't.' And that thought of disappointing her...because I didn't wanna disappoint her," said Maier. "And she passed away of a sudden heart attack and Finn is a testament to her and I'm really glad that she help me make that choice."
KPIX also spoke with Mary Rose Short, the Director of Outreach with California Right to Life.
"I think it's a step forward, even just the fact that it removes a barrier. It removes what seems to be an instrumental barrier to giving equal protection to all human beings," said Rose. "I'm very excited the Supreme Court has corrected its error that they made almost fifty ago."
When asked if she was concerned that some women might be forced to travel across state lines or seek abortions by possibly illegal means, she replied, "Obviously we don't want them to have abortions illegal or legal. It is going to hurt them in California. Where will we be coming to in this scenario because of the protections for abortion. We are lowering the abortion safety standards and making all abortions unsafe."
When asked if she thought that the decision could lead to other rulings impacting laws protecting the LGBTQ+ community, Rose said, "This particular decision does not affect other prior right to privacy decisions, so I don't know whether they will reconsider those but at this time this decision itself does not affect those."
Mary Rose Short says In states like California, the fight for equal protection for unborn children will continue through education to change minds and save lives.
"It's actually great everybody is talking about abortion because it's been so hard to have people pay attention for years," Rose said.