A Supreme Court draft opinion that would end the constitutional right to abortion is fanning strong opinions and emotions across metro Atlanta for women on both sides of the issue.
Two Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporters interviewed nearly 30 women this week in parks and shopping centers across five counties. Most were unhappy with the draft opinion, voicing anger and fear. A recently retired teacher fought tears as she described anxiety for the world her infant granddaughter will grow up in.
Several women agreed with striking down the draft opinion, saying abortion rights should be left up to the states. Some were strictly anti-abortion, while others favored tightening restrictions but allowing abortions in some cases.
About half the women said they did not know the state of Georgia’s abortion laws, owing in part to confusion over a 2019 law that would ban abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy, except in cases of rape or incest. The law is on hold in federal appeals court pending the Supreme Court ruling.
Some declined to talk or have their photo taken, citing the sensitivity of the issue and a desire to keep their opinions to themselves. Some said Wednesday they hadn’t heard of the draft ruling.
According to an AJC poll in January, 68% of Georgians wanted the Supreme Court to preserve Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that established abortion rights, while 24% wanted the decision overturned. A majority of Georgians also were opposed to Georgia’s six-week limit.
The following comments were edited for length and clarity.
Credit: Alia Pharr
Credit: Alia Pharr
Destiny Jackson, 21, DeKalb County, child care worker
Really, it’s none of the government’s business what women are doing with their bodies. You have to look at more than, “Oh, it’s a life that you’re taking,” when it’s really not. You have to get into the science of that. You have to look more so at the woman herself, because that could maybe be a mentally ill woman who’s not capable of taking care of a child, or it could be a woman who’s struggling, who’s not capable of taking care of a child. Telling her, ‘Just put your children in an adoption agency,’ which is also somewhere that’s not good for a child to be, that’s not fixing anything. Just please leave women and their bodies alone. I promise you, we know what we’re doing.
Credit: Alia Pharr
Credit: Alia Pharr
Tracey Hartman, 50, Fulton County, certified public accountant
The legal ramifications of it should belong to the states. I’m a Christian so I believe in the sanctity of human life. I don’t know if that’s up to the government to decide or not. The most fundamental right is the right to life. We can’t have any other rights until we breathe. I’m willing to talk to the other side or listen, but I’m active in Beacon of Hope, which deals with crisis pregnancies. The issue affects which candidates I support. I would like to know what their stance is, so we take some time and since we’re in primaries right now, we have to do that at our house. We talked about it yesterday. We do as much research as we can, especially at the local level and now even school boards, to figure out what their stance actually is, not just the flyer.
Credit: Alia Pharr
Credit: Alia Pharr
Alexis Sivcovich, 32, Fulton County, event management
It’s really about privacy and our right to bodily autonomy. Do what you want. I figure I’m going to Canada or Mexico for an abortion anyway, if it comes to that, so I quit paying attention in the United States. We’re in a bad spot. I put it out there, I don’t want to be a parent. I don’t want to have kids. I never have. Now I guess we’ve just got to be a lot more careful. Not that we don’t take precautions, but having a baby would literally ruin my life and I don’t want to have a baby. I shouldn’t have to, quite frankly.
Credit: Caroline Silva
Credit: Caroline Silva
Dorothy Woodruff, 73, Cobb County, retired health care worker
One of the main things that I am very concerned about with all of the back and forth about Roe v. Wade is I feel that there are many, many ways to prevent pregnancy in this country, and that should be visited over and over again, and then there would be no reason to have the issue. Abortion is not a means of birth control. Put it on the hands of states, absolutely. I also believe that there should be provisions for rape, incest, I do believe those things, but abortion just as an inadvertent, no. (I support Georgia’s six-week law) because doctors can tell these days, they have enough equipment and expertise to determine whether it is viable presently. I think six weeks is absolutely ample time for a woman to make that decision, but, yes, I think there should be some leeway.
Brianna Christopher, 34, Carroll County, stay-at-home mom
I think that women should have their own choice on what they do with their body and I just don’t think that the government should tell anybody what to do with their own body. I mean, personally, I would not (get an abortion) after 12 weeks, but I’m not going to judge someone else for their own decision. Because I also don’t think it’s a huge thing where people are getting late-term abortions. Unless it’s a medical issue. It’s your decision. It’s your child, it’s not mine. It’s your body. I’m against (the Georgia six-week law) just because, yes it’s a baby, but unless the government wants to also help the mother fully fund that child, if that mother is struggling or any other reason, then don’t put a limit.
Credit: Caroline Silva
Credit: Caroline Silva
Kimberly Porter, 52, DeKalb County, machine operator
Women should have a right to their own body. Women don’t have no rights. Black women, we already know we don’t have no rights. It’s the white women who don’t know that they don’t have no rights and once they realize they don’t have rights, then they will be smart enough to say, ‘OK, it’s time to fight with the Black(s), it’s time to fight with the Mexicans, it’s time to fight with the Asians,’ because the women are the ones who’s losing, not the men. I just think that a woman should decide what they want to do. I don’t think there should be no restriction on nobody. I think everyone should have their own individual mind of what they want to do. I don’t think no one should control nobody, not even in marriage.
Pamela Adley, 73, Cobb County, retired recruiter
I’ve always been pro-life. I think it’s probably my age and the way I grew up and my religious beliefs. I see babies as a gift, no matter if they’re meant to be or not meant to be. The only exception I take is when somebody is raped, they’re violently attacked, I feel like they should have the option. But if it’s a teenage pregnancy, or a mother who doesn’t want any more children, there are tons of people out there that want to adopt. And I don’t think the taxpayers should pay for abortions and there’s free birth control out there. If you’re gonna make the decision to go out and have sex, it’s not like back when I was a teenager. There was no birth control and now they give it out, you got the day-after stuff. I feel like people have to be more responsible. I’d probably say no more than six to eight weeks (in cases of rape or incest). By then you know you’re pregnant.
Credit: Caroline Silva
Credit: Caroline Silva
Talia Oliver, 29, Fulton County, social media influencer
I don’t understand why this is a thing right now. Yeah, we have science theories about how life came to be, but I really feel like it’s weird that the Supreme Court feels fit to determine the basis of life. Then there’s also the privacy laws involved. I don’t agree with (overturning Roe v. Wade) at all, I think it’s insane. I remember when I got pregnant, I was brought up as a Southern Baptist Christian, and I just was not comfortable with abortion at the time, but I would never tell anyone else not to get an abortion. Having gone through pregnancy, and my son is 5 now, and I have a bit more understanding of what women’s bodies go through, physically, emotionally, and then after pregnancy, socio-economically, not everyone can handle any combination of those things. So as far as someone being allowed to get an abortion, it shouldn’t be anyone’s business. That should not be up to the law to interpret. How are you gonna tell someone that they can’t do something that benefits them?
Terry Los, 72, Fulton County, sales worker
I think states’ rights is an important thing. I don’t believe in abortion. Every situation is different, but I don’t believe in abortion for convenience. I think when the embryo is formed, it’s actually got everything it needs to form into a human being, so it’s not like a tadpole turning into a frog. You have a viable human being right there. I can vote for a candidate, but I don’t think that makes any difference to what the states will decide, or if there’s going to be an overrule by some judicial committee. Sometimes you feel very helpless. You vote for who you think thinks the way you do and then who knows what’s going to happen?
Credit: Caroline Silva
Credit: Caroline Silva
Candace Kaspers, 74, Fulton County, founder of women’s nonprofit
I remember fighting in the 60s for women’s rights and it just breaks my heart, and it breaks my heart for my daughter and for her child, and she’s got an 8-year-old who understands that she is not equal already at age 8. Men, particularly on the Supreme Court, what if we told them that they would not be able to use any contraception, nor could they ever get a vasectomy? It would be illegal. I just think they don’t understand. When my daughter grew up, I told her that she needed to be very vigilant about women’s rights, particularly Roe v. Wade, because we fought really hard for it and she just rolled her eyes and said, ‘Oh, mom, that would never happen.’ I think women have the right to legislate over their body and make their own choices and that it shouldn’t be dictated by others.
Debbie Martin, 57, Fayette County, registered nurse
It’s a woman’s choice on what they want to do with their bodies. I don’t think anything after five months, I think a decision should be made before. (At five months) it’s a baby. Yeah, it’s a baby. It’s a baby.
Credit: Caroline Silva
Credit: Caroline Silva
Diane Cannon, 74, Cobb County, part-time county worker
Life is precious and I think it should be up to the states. I’m going to say zero (tolerance for abortion) because they will always circumvent that. Great children have come out of (rape or incest). I’m all for (Georgia’s six-week law). I don’t infringe on anyone else’s right. I still think that we all have the right to say what we want to say, even if it’s disagreeable to the other person.
Credit: Alia Pharr
Credit: Alia Pharr
Sharon Dickinson, 58, Dawson County, fashion industry worker
I’m not sure if I understand the draft opinion fully, but there’s been so much online chatter with my friends about women owning their rights. People take up abortion as an easy way to fight for something that they don’t care about after a child is born. They don’t want to abort a child, but then after the child is born, they don’t want to take care of it. So I think a lot of it’s just crap. I don’t think a child who’s fully formed should be aborted. We’re talking three months. But I think there’s certain cases where they find out that there’s something, you know, dramatically or drastically wrong with a baby and that it’s not going to be cared for. I fully support women’s rights. I was raised as a Republican, I spent my life as a Republican and lately I’ve been so disgusted with that party. It’s about a lot of different things, but abortion is part of it.
Editor’s note: A sentence in an earlier version of this article contained language that some readers might have found offensive. The sentence has been removed.
