TAMPA, Fla. — Protesters gathered in downtown Tampa for the 51st anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
The case caused the right to an abortion that was in place for 49 years before it was overturned in 2022.
Protestors like Bree Wallace said the 1973 ruling in Roe v.Wade was not only historic, but it gave pregnant people options.
“It gave them lots of resources, it gave them the comfort of knowing in their own home state they could get care,” Wallace said.
However, a 2022 Supreme Court decision overturned Roe v. Wade.
“We refuse to go back," a protestor said. "We refuse to go back-to-back alley abortions and we refuse to go back to unsafe abortions."
The Supreme Court ruled there is no constitutional right to abortion, leaving it up to the individual states. Wallace works with the Tampa Bay Abortion Fund. She said since that decision, people have needed more help than ever.
“We spent $280,000 one year and almost $700,000 last year, so we've spent a lot of what we've got and haven't recouped yet,” Wallace said.
Right now, the Florida Supreme Court is reviewing a challenge to the state's 15-week abortion ban. If the Supreme Court leaves the ban in place, a 6-week ban signed by the governor last summer will automatically go into effect. It’s disappointing to Wallace, but good news to Theresa Kimball.
“I'm going to do whatever I can throughout my life to present that view to the world and vote against abortion and support women, so they don't ever have to feel like they have to have abortions,” Kimball said.
There are also a couple of bills going through the legislative session right now surrounding abortion rights.
“I really love humans and I think it's evil to kill them especially when they are as innocent as a human fetus is," Kimball said. "A human fetus doesn't have a voice. I have a voice and I can use it to support them."
An abortion initiative may be on the ballot in November. More than 900,000 people have signed the petition. Before it can be approved to go to a vote, the Florida Supreme Court will look into this starting in February.
