Daily Press Writer
MONTROSE — A group of 12 people gathered at the intersection of Main Street and Townsend Avenue during Monday evening’s rush hour, braving chilly temperatures to mark the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
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Instead, the protesters were there to signal their opposition to the 1973 Supreme Court decision that limits the ability of the states and Congress to outlaw or restrict access to abortion.
“The only successful solution to the Roe v. Wade decision would be for it to be reversed,” said Gayla Bourelle, a member of San Juan Right to Life and a board member of Life Choices Pregnancy Center. “It needs to be reversed completely.”
“I believe that life begins at conception, and a baby is God’s greatest gift. To destroy that gift is just not right,” she said.
Across the nation, pro-choice groups also marked the decision. The National Organization for Women saluted the case for recognizing a woman’s constitutional right to abortion and included remembrances of women who died from illegal and unsafe abortions on its Web site.
Planned Parenthood chose the anniversary as a chance to urge both supporters and opponents of the decision to focus on developing a “prevention-first” health care agenda that would reduce unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion.
But at the corner of Main and Townsend, pro-life supporters were alone in marking the case’s anniversary.
Jamie Mawhorter and her husband Paul were on the corner with their adopted daughters Emma and Maggie.
The Mawhorters, who tried for nine years to have biological children, hoped by being on the corner Monday they could remind people that there are alternatives to abortion.
“We have so many young girls here and we just want them to know they have alternatives and abortion is not the way,” Jamie said.
Jamie held that in cases of rape or incest, adoption would still be the best choice.
“I think the unborn child has a right and needs to have a voice,” she said. “They can still bring the child into life and have an adoption.”
Dale Bourelle, Gayla’s husband, was even more succinct.
“Two wrongs don’t make a right, it’s just that simple,” he said. “That baby, no matter what stage it’s in, never had a choice in any form of its development.”
Although Montrose is a long ways from the steps of the Supreme Court in Washington D.C., Gayla Bourelle said protesting the court’s decision was an important step in reducing abortion, which she said takes the life of one baby for every four that are born.
“I believe that it’s just bringing awareness in front of people,” she said. “If one girl were to change her mind about having an abortion, I’d feel like my life was well-lived.”
Contact Matt Hildner via e-mail at matth@montrosepress.com
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