How Women Who Support Abortion Rights Are Reacting to Roe v. Wade

Our reporters are speaking with women across the United States as they react to Friday’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. Here is a selection of what they have heard from women who support maintaining access to abortion.

Thinking of the next generation of young women

Nicole Stipp, 37, a co-owner of Trouble Bar in Louisville and a volunteer for the Kentucky Health Justice Network’s abortion hotline, said one of the first things she did after hearing the ruling was text her little sister and her sister-in-law, who are both in their 20s.

“They’re so vulnerable,” said Ms. Stipp, who has had abortions herself. “It’s crazy to think that my little sister has less rights than me as of this morning. I’ve lived my whole life with access to abortion. That doesn’t mean it hasn’t been complicated and barricaded by legislatures, but now my sister who’s 25 does not have that right, and that’s really haunting.”

‘Women should have the choice’

“Every child deserves to have a happy home,” said Litzy Morales as she sat on a bench on Friday morning in Grand Park in downtown Los Angeles, her 2-year-old daughter in a stroller next to her. “I feel for all the women out there who are obligated to have children they aren’t able to care for, and not knowing what’s going to happen next.”

Ms. Morales said she had been a victim of sexual assault, and she feared the Supreme Court ruling would be especially difficult for women who are victims of rape.

“To go through that is very tough — for women not to be able to choose how their life turns out if something happens to them that’s not their fault, and it’s not something they wanted,” Ms. Morales said. “Women should have the choice to determine whether they’re ready to care for a child or not.”

A fear that a lack of access to abortion will lead to deaths

Denise Taylor, who works for a community health center with 11 locations in the mostly rural Mississippi Delta, said Friday that she was devastated and fighting back tears after the Supreme Court ruling.

“It will lead to illegal abortions and many women dying,” Ms. Taylor said. “The court has no right to tell a woman what to do with her body.”

‘The decision has set women back at least 100 years’

Jennifer White, 41, of Sioux Falls, S.D., said she was “outraged” by the ruling and thinks others should be as well.

“I think the decision has set women back at least 100 years,” Ms. White said. “The women of South Dakota, anyway.”

Ms. White, a painter, gallery owner and a member of the Arikara tribe, said she felt let down by female elected leaders in South Dakota, which is led by Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican.

“I am disappointed in the fact that women aren’t recognizing the needs of other women, and I’m putting a lot of pressure on that,” she said. “We fought for a very long time to have a voice, especially women like myself, women of color. And to see it being given away, giving our power away is just ridiculous.”

A Mississippi woman reacts with anger, but not disbelief

“I knew this was coming but I didn’t expect to feel such anger,” said Amalie Hahn, 49, of Jackson, Miss. “The very first emotion I had was anger. I could say I don’t believe this is happening, but I do believe this is happening. I do believe this is the American way. I don’t think us women have ever mattered. I have been trying to figure out a way to process my anger, process my fear.”

“You want to ban abortions in the state of Mississippi, but you don’t want to take into account that Mississippi is one of, if not the worst, state to give birth in,” Ms. Hahn added. “We are in the midst of a formula shortage and poverty is at an all-time high and they are forcing women to have babies. This is insane.”

‘The nation is on fire’

Hannah Drake, 45, a poet and writer in Louisville, Ky., heard the news of the Roe ruling as she was about to attend a virtual meeting.

Ms. Drake said that she expected that Black women like herself would be the ones who faced the most severe ramifications of the decision. “Now we have to deal with this thing and we don’t have the resources,” she said. “We will not have the excellent health care or the underground doctor or the private hospital, or the friend of a friend who can help you out.”

Ms. Drake said she chose to have a daughter at 19, and attempted to have an abortion in her late 30s, but when she arrived at a clinic her car was swarmed by protesters. Overwhelmed, she started crying, left the parking lot, and drove home, she said. A week later she had a miscarriage, alone, without medical support, in a bathroom stall at work.