By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – The U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade Friday, June 24, eliminating the constitutional right to abortion established by the Court in 1973.
News of the decision sparked rapid rallies locally and across the nation. In Red Bank, approximately 50 people, including local elected officials and abortion rights advocates, gathered at Riverside Gardens Park on Front Street to protest the decision and rally in support of women’s reproductive rights.
The rally was hosted by Our Revolution New Jersey, a grassroots network of state and local advocates for progressive initiatives.
Attendees included State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-11), Red Bank Borough Council president Kate Triggiano, Eden Stein, founder of the Young Feminist Group at Red Bank Regional High School, Kerri Kennedy and Tricia Maguire from Elect Women NJ, Atlantic Highlands council member Lori Hohenleitner, community activist Jess Alaimo and Our Revolution national organizer Anna-Marta Visky.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, an organization that advocates for abortion rights, New Jersey is one of 15 states and the District of Columbia that has legalized abortion through legislative action, with similar actions pending in Colorado and New Mexico. But abortion is now illegal in 10 states following the Supreme Court’s historic decision Friday.
Twelve other states have “trigger” laws in place that enable them to quickly ban or severely restrict access to abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court decision.
Guttmacher Institute estimates that a total of 26 states are likely to ban abortion following the Supreme Court decision.
With the reversal of Roe v. Wade, some are expressing concern that other rights, including those protecting same sex marriage and contraception, are now in jeopardy.
In his concurring opinion on the Supreme Court’s 6-3 vote overturning Roe v. Wade, Justice Clarence Thomas remarked that court rulings establishing rights to same-sex marriage and contraception “were demonstrably erroneous decisions” and should be reconsidered.
Last Friday, The League of Women Voters released a statement noting that while the Court’s opinion was expected, its harm is extreme and real.
“When women and those who can become pregnant can no longer make reproductive decisions for their own bodies, they are no longer equal individuals in our democracy. This harm will exacerbate societal inequalities and fall disproportionately on people of color and low-income communities already facing egregious obstacles to health care.”
Deborah Turner, M.D., J.D., president of the League of Women Voters said, “The dissenting Justices get it exactly right: today’s majority opinion is an assault on the constitutional guarantee to equal protection of the laws and the right to due process. With this decision, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other historically marginalized communities have no guarantees that their civil rights will be protected.”
Speaking at the Riverside Gardens rally, Gopal urged residents to understand the implications of the Supreme Court ruling and show up to vote for candidates that recognize the need for everyone in the U.S. to retain their rights.
“We must make sure that we vote, we organize,” he said referring to “the extremist position” of Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ-4th District).
A longtime opponent of abortion, Smith commented on the decision in an op-ed that appeared in the Washington Times Friday, June 24, which read in part:
“There is nothing humane, compassionate or benign about abortion. Abortion is not healthcare, unless one construes the precious life of an unborn child to be analogous to a tumor to be excised or a disease to be vanquished.The 1973 Supreme Court anti-child decisions and several that followed like Casey have enabled the violent death of unborn baby girls and boys by dismemberment, decapitation, forced expulsion from the womb, deadly poisons, and other violent methods at any time and for any reason until birth.
History – and science – are on the side of life.”
“He (Smith) said on the op-ed, he looked forward to rollback all abortion access, even in the case of rape and incest,” Gopal said. “This is disgusting. This is someone who represents Monmouth County. That’s why action is more important now. There is no excuse not to vote.”
The 6-3 vote by the Supreme Court had been largely expected following the leak of a draft opinion striking down the landmark 1973 decision protecting the right to abortion.
The generations-long fight to secure reproductive rights will have to continue, said Eden Stein, rising senior at Red Bank Regional High School and president of the Young Feminists group. “Today, I heard (President) Joe Biden say that the court’s ruling means women’s health is now at risk in America. There’s only one truth – it’s no one’s business what someone chooses to do with their life. Today is a horror and a shame that my generation may not have the same privacy. My body my choice!”
Reproductive health clinics in New Jersey are bracing for an influx of women from across the state borders.
At the rally, Joan Gotti, a volunteer with Planned Parenthood, urged rally-goers to support NJ Senate bill S2918, which strengthens access to reproductive health care and appropriates $20 million for that purpose. A similar version of the bill is pending in the NJ Assembly.
“In New Jersey, we’re a strong community,” said Red Bank Councilmember Kate Triggiano. “And we’re going to step up to put pressure on our representatives, to build an even stronger health care system to prepare for the thousands of people that are going to be coming to us for help. That’s what is about to happen. And that’s what we need to prepare for on a mass scale.”
Given the impermanence of both victory and failure in a “Democracy so fragile yet robust.” Kerri Kennedy, chairwoman of Elect Women NJ, said, “we have lost the battle, not the war.”
The article originally appeared in the June 30 – July 6, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.
