NORFOLK, Va. - Abortion rights advocates rallied in front of the Norfolk Courthouse Tuesday in support of keeping abortion legal. This comes after a draft opinion leaked Monday night suggests the U.S. Supreme Court could possibly overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark case that legalized abortion nationwide.
"My body, my choice. My body, my choice. Abortion laws have got to go,” they chanted.
Outside of the courthouse in Downtown Norfolk, the activists rallied in support of abortion rights. The group included Jupiter Walbrook, who had two abortions as a teenager.
"The first one, I was married, but I was only 19 or 18. The second time, I was raped and I was 19 by a friend," Walbrook tells News 3 reporter Leondra Head.
Walbrook says life would be different if there wasn’t access to abortion.
"I was just too young to have kids and I wanted to go to college, so I had my abortions and I went to college, and now I’m going back to grad school; I just got my acceptance letters today," Walbrook said.
Sara Resnick was also at Tuesday's rally. She's the director of operations for theHampton Roads Reproductive Justice League, an organization that funds abortions. She says a woman’s choice is near and dear to her heart after she had an abortion in 1989 when she was a teenager.
"I’m 45 now. When I was 15, I got pregnant with my first boyfriend. I had an appointment at the time to go and get on birth control pills. We were about three weeks too late. When I found out I was pregnant, I was terrified," Resnick tells News 3.
Resnick says she wasn’t ready to be a mom at such a young age.
"I was a straight-A student. I wanted to be a lawyer, I had my life planned out. I was so supportive to have a mother who was supportive of my body autonomy. She helped me find the money and get the day off from school. She supported me," Resnick said.
Bob Holt, the co-chairman of the pro-life committee for St. Gregory the Great Catholic Church, believes that Roe v. Wade should be overturned.
"I have been praying along with brothers and sisters since 1973 to have this misjustice in America overturned," Holt tells us.
Holt says the church works with a mobile pregnancy center that parks near abortion clinics. Volunteers pray for women who plan on getting an abortion, giving them a chance to get an ultrasound before they go into the clinic.
"We were partly responsible for funding two ultrasounds - one for each van - so ladies going into the Planned Parenthood may have an option to come into a van and see an ultrasound. We have found that is so powerful in advocating life," Holt said.
Related: What is Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion access case?
