ST. GEORGE — On the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, protesters gathered outside the St. George offices of Planned Parenthood to express their opposition to legalized abortion. Those who attended the protest said every life was sacred and society has an obligation to protect those most innocent of lives.
“I’m here to support right to life,” Marcella Wintz said. “Everybody has a right to life. Especially the unborn. They’re the most innocent in our society and we have an obligation that we should support and protect them from murder. It is murder. I know people don’t like to hear that, but it is murder.”
Society gets upset when inner-city children are shot, but few give time to think about the unborn, Wintz said. The procedures for abortion are horrific, she said, but no one says anything because they do not see the faces of the fetuses.
“It’s easy to forget about them, but I know they’re here, God knows they’re here,” Wintz said.
Wintz said she was there as a voice for the St. George Catholic Church. As a follower of her faith, Wintz said she had a moral obligation to protect the lives of the unborn. No one is speaking for them, she said.
Activists are standing up for all manner of different causes, Wintz said, but few are defending the rights of the fetuses.
“Everybody’s standing up for ‘Black Lives Matter,’ ‘Blue Lives Matter’ — what about the babies? Even animals have more rights,” Wintz said.
We are here to defend the defenseless, Rose Medina said. Members of the St. George Catholic church gather at Planned Parenthood every first Saturday of the month to pray peacefully, she said.
Though Wintz said 53 million abortions have taken place since the Roe v. Wade ruling, Medina said that number was closer to 56 million. Medina urged people to go to the website “Center for Medical Progress” in order to view the controversial videos that have dominated the news for some time now.
People need to see for themselves and make up their own minds (as to the validity of the videos,) Medina said.
The women who have had abortions were those whom she was thinking of as she protested, Julia Romanov said. As someone who had previously had an abortion, she said she knew firsthand the pain a woman experiences when she terminates a pregnancy.
“A woman does not realize the effects, there’s no follow-up … they just do not realize the effects of abortion. At all,” Romanov said. “You carry this in your heart until you die.”
Note: St. George News attempted to speak with the pro-choice supporters, but was unable to make contact.
In 1973, the Supreme Court issued its 7-2 decision in Roe v. Wade, finding a state law that banned abortions, except to save the life of the mother, was unconstitutional. Among other things, the court held that the state statute violated the woman’s right to privacy – at least during the first trimester of pregnancy. It further held the states have an interest and could regulate aspects of abortions during the second trimester for the protection of the mother’s health; and, in the third trimester, upon “viability” of the fetus, it could regulate or deny abortion except in cases where the mother’s health was at risk.
The law established by Roe v. Wade has been expanded and tested and is far from settled in the minds of its opponents. Today, the decision remains the subject of strident debate from advocates on both sides of the abortion issue and those in the nation’s legal community where some maintain the decision was activist and historically unfounded – or, as dissenting Justice Byron White described it, “an exercise of raw judicial power.”
St. George News reporters Kimberly Scott and Ric Wayman contributed to this article.
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Protesters hold a pro-life banner during a demonstration in front of the St. George Planned Parenthood offices on Jan. 22, 2016 | Photo by Leanna Bergeron, St. George News
Protesters gather in front of the St. George, Utah Planned Parenthood offices on the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade on Jan. 22, 2016. | Photo by Leanna Bergeron, St. George News
Protesters hold pro-life signs as they demonstrate in front of the St, George Planned Parenthood offices on Bluff Street on Jan. 22, 2016 | Photo by Leanna Bergeron, St. George News
A demonstrator holds a sign in opposition to abortion during a protest at the St. George offices of Planned Parenthood in St. George, Utah on Jan. 22, 2016. | Photo by Leanna Bergeron, St. George News
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Don’t like abortion? Then maybe instead of cutting funding for Planned Parenthood, you should increase it for better access to birth control and contraceptives for everyone. Maybe you should have open and honest discussions with your children about what sex is and what the consequences of it are. Maybe you should drop the ridiculous “abstinence only” bull****, stop pushing sexual education to the fringes and have real discussions with kids about human sexuality. I don’t like abortion. I think it’s a terrible thing. I recognize it as the law of the land and I also know that the way to decrease it is through better education and easier access to contraceptives.
Well said.
Abortion is murder
Well there are people having abortions today and some tomorrow and some after that. just thought I would let you know. and they don’t care one bit what you think ! Good for them !
Well not everybody agrees with you . you have your opinion and they have theirs . my opinion is if someone is getting an abortion that’s their business not mine. I’m not losing any sleep over it .
You call it murder and others don’t .you have your opinion and other’s have their opinion. but if the law of the land says it’s legal then that’s the way it is.
Go have an abortion “…” Just know you’ve been told it’s murder whether you believe it or not
It’s not murder. It’s freedom of choice and the law of the land. so deal with it
I ain’t stopping you…..go enjoy your law of the land and abort on! You will see the truth one day
Nor am I stopping you from marrying your gay lover…..it’s the law of the land, right? You will see the truth one day. And when the law says you need to take the mark in order to eat or buy goods or you will be killed….don’t do it, if you take the mark, it’s too late
When the law of the land says to take the at mark or you can’t eat or buy anything….dont do it!
It’s not murder, it’s problem solving.
It’s tough being a Mormon isn’t it ? I knew all along you’re Mormon
I am so tired of people saying we need better education and access to contraceptives….. if you can afford a cell phone you can afford a box of condoms or a pack of birth control pills. Education and access to contraceptives is NOT the problem. It’s not rocket science. This is very simple. Make good decisions.
You must not have much interaction with the average teenagers and young adults here in the state of Utah. The majority of kids don’t think oral sex is sex, think you can’t get pregnant if you “pull out” and think that looking at a member of the opposite gender and being turned on is the same as actually having sex! There is a massive problem with education.
Ladybug …it’s legal ! and people are going to do it. and they DON’T care what you think !
Ladybug do something constructive with your time. write a letter to the president and tell him how offensive the song ‘ Ten Little Indians ‘ is to the Native American. and maybe he can use his presidential power and have the name of the song changed to ‘ Ten Little Whiners ‘