DAYTON — People across the Miami Valley gathered in Downtown Dayton today as part of a nationwide effort to protect abortion rights.
This comes after a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion suggests the court could overturn the Roe versus Wade ruling.
Demonstrators of all ages gathered at Courthouse Square.
Some chanted “abortion is healthcare” and “hands off my body.”
The rally was organized by the Dayton Women’s Rights Alliance.
>> PHOTOS: Demonstrators rally in Dayton for abortion rights
Those in support of abortion rights at the rally said women should have the right to choose what they want to do with their bodies.
“It’s too scary now to see that laws are going to start going backward,” Samantha Stover of Huber Heights said.
Joy Schwab, with Dayton Women’s Right Alliance, shared what she said it was like before the Roe v. Wade ruling.
“Women were dying from unsafe back-alley abortions and trying to self-induce abortions and it was just a horrible, horrible time,” Schwab said.
“Lives and dreams were lost and we will never go back to those times,” Schwab added.
But some support the draft opinion like Robert Tuttle who is part of Dayton Right to Life.
Right to Life supports pro-life culture and provides assistance to parents or guardians from before the birth of their child through age five, according to their website.
Tuttle said he doesn’t think the ruling should have ever been made in the first place.
>> Roe v. Wade leaked opinion: What is Roe and what does it mean if it is overturned?
“We believe Roe v. Wade was a bad decision by the Supreme Court and it just like 242 other decisions that have been reversed from the Supreme Court over the past 200 years. We think this needs to be reversed as well,” Tuttle said.
He believes the choice of whether or not to allow abortions should be up to the states.
“If Roe is overturned that just brings it back to the states, so it brings it back to the people instead of the federal government deciding whether we are allowed to have abortions or not. We believe in states’ rights and we believe the people should have a say,” he said.
Others worried what it would look like if it got to that point.
Organizations of the rally said bans on abortions would likely harm low-income and minority communities the most.
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