“We won’t be silenced,” residents protest SCOTUS abortion ruling

https://henrycountyenterprise.com/we-wont-be-silenced-residents-protest-scotus-abortion-ruling/

July 11, 2022 Henry County Enterprise

Melody Cartwright said she graduated from Martinsville High School in 1975, just two years after the Roe v. Wade decision. 

“All of my life, I enjoyed federally protected rights which have now been turned over,” she said. 

Though, at the age of 65 she can no longer have children, Cartwright said, “I have a daughter who is 25 years old. This sort of thing is just so crushing to women who care and want to have the right to do their own family planning. No one wants abortion. No one is for abortion. No one. We’re pro-life, actually. We want people to have children when they want them. It’s a great thing.” 

However, she noted, abortion should be available for “those who don’t want to have children, who can’t afford to have children right now, or people who have unplanned pregnancies.”

She said she was “heartbroken” by the Supreme Court’s decision, “but we knew it was going to happen” because it is used as a political topic. (Former President Barack) “Obama said he was going to codify it. It was one of his platforms. Did he do it? No. And you know why? Everybody thought it was protected, it was a sure thing, it was an ace in the hole, and it was not. Now we really need to fight.”

Cartwright said she was pleased that a number of men were on the protest line, because the right to abortion was not just a gender issue. “It’s a human rights issue.”

She said that she also hoped to attend larger protests in other areas and has already been in contact with her representatives but was dissatisfied with the response she received. 

(Regarding complaints to your representative: “They just give you a form letter. Do something. Do something because this is serious,” she demanded. 

Like Pritchard, Cartwright said she is concerned about future decisions handed down by the court.