By Marion Filler
Hundreds gathered outside Morristown town hall Friday evening to protest the Supreme Court’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Ruling in a Mississippi case, the conservative court made abortion access — a constitutional right for nearly a half-century–a matter for states to determine. The strongly worded 5-4 opinion closely followed a draft leaked to the press weeks ago.
Reflecting the intense emotions swirling around abortion, demonstrators expressed fears that the floodgates now are open for the far-right to impose its agenda.
Twenty-two states are poised to immediately ban or curb access to abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research group.
“This won’t end with Roe, this will be the end of gay marriage and trans rights and all that,” said Maureen, 70, a Basking Ridge resident who explained she was demonstrating to defend a woman’s right to control her body.
She was joined by Annie, 61, from Mendham. “I cried all day. I didn’t think I’d be doing this in my lifetime…They (the Supreme Court) are really on a roll.”
Younger women were equally upset.
“It really shocked me today,” said Charlotte, 19, from Jefferson. “I never thought this would happen.”
Her friend Ava, 18, from Rockaway, agreed. “When it finally happened, I was angry, but here we are.”
Video playlist by Bill Lescohier. Tap icon upper right to toggle through videos:
Chatham Borough Mayor Thaddeus Kobylarz, a Democrat, voiced disappointment at the absence of Republicans officials at the event. He said he knows many moderate Republicans who support a woman’s right to choose but are “scared” to say so.
“The Republican party has become basically thuggish,” Kobylarz said, adding that “right- wing elements have gained ascendancy here in Morris County. We find ourselves in a very different America today.”
Slideshow photos by Bill Lescohier and Marion Filler. Click/hover on images for captions:
The rally was organized by Mendham Committeewoman Amalia Duarte, chairperson of the Morris County Democratic Committee. She connected her cellphone to a loudspeaker and broadcast comments by Reps. Tom Malinowski (D-7th Dist.) and Mikie Sherrill (D-11th Dist.).
“We should not let what the Supreme Court did be the last word in America,” said Malinowski. “In multiple states, women are about to be treated as they were 50 years ago. Women and doctors are going to be treated as criminals for exercising a right that the vast majority of Americans still support.”
He attributed the current situation to apathy and complacency, and urged people to come to the polls for November’s mid-term elections. Malinowski faces a challenge from Republican Tom Kean Jr., in a rematch of their 2020 race.
“The stakes in this election could not be more clear than they are today. We know the Republicans have promised that if they take back control of Congress, they are going to pass a law that bans abortion nationwide and that law will override our law in the state of New Jersey,” Malinowski said.
Sherrill had a similar message. “New Jersey was the first state in the Union to codify Roe,” she said.
That codification was meant to ensure protection of reproductive rights for women in the Garden State, Sherrill said. Her bid for a third term is being contested by Republican Paul DeGroot, a former prosecutor from Passaic County.
An effort by Democrats on Capitol Hill to enact a national abortion rights bill ahead of Friday’s Supreme Court ruling failed. The bill was opposed by every Republican in the Senate, and by Democrat Joe Manchin of West Virginia.
‘THEY ARE COMING AFTER ALL OF US’
Anticipating the repeal of the 1973 Roe vs Wade decision, New Jersey signed the Freedom of Reproductive Choice Act into law in January 2022. At the moment, anyone who desires an abortion in New Jersey, resident or not, can obtain it legally.
Judy Hernández, a Democrat running for Morris County Commissioner this fall, noted that the all-Republican board of commissioners passed a resolution denouncing the Freedom of Reproduction Act.
Duarte and others at that county meeting asked the commissioners to explain why such a move was necessary, “but we were ignored,” said Duarte.
Hernandez accused the commissioners of “radicalizing” their function, which she defined as limited to managing county finances.
“Can you believe we’re doing this again?” Morristown Councilwoman Sandi Mayer asked the crowd, which answered with a resounding “NO.”
Referring to the 2020 presidential election, Mayer added: “If 11,780 people had stayed home in Georgia, our world would be really upside down now.” She implored the audience to “get out and vote.”
The message was echoed by Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty, Alderwoman Sandra Wittner of Dover, and Meghan Lynch, chair of the county Democratic Women’s Caucus and the Randolph Democratic Committee.
“We knew this would happen,” said Lynch, “and do you remember what they said? They called us hysterical. Guess who’s hysterical now? I am angry and pissed off and ready to fight. We will never go back.”
The last speaker was high school student Miles Gorman, “a transgender American, a queer American, who is really scared.”
Calling out state Sen. Edward Durr (R-2nd Dist.) as the sort of person “who is coming after us,” Gorman said “this is personal for me. They’re coming after my rights, and I worry about kids in states that are not as progressive as New Jersey. They are coming after all of us.”
She’s not choosing what to do with her own body, she’s choosing to kill another person. A soon to be person she did not create on her own.
My body my choice = ok to murder, my body my choice = not ok to say no to a “vaccine”.
Please explain how the anti-mask, anti-vax folks who cry freedom are so quick to take away a woman’s freedom to choose what she does with her own body?
So, Jeff does not value freedom. No surprise there.
Malinowski and Sherrill could propose a common sense bill to codify Roe at the Federal level at any time. Why haven’t they?
Why the overreaction to what was determined by SCOTUS? I haven’t read it either, however, all of the indications are this was specifically abortion-not birth control, same sex marriage, etc. Decisions to be made at state level-please calm down.
Sorry, Pigday31, your request will be cheerfully ignored my the voting majority this fall when the red wave hits. You dems have sure made a mess of things, and we’ll sort that out in due time.
Elections have consequences. If you value your freedom, never vote for these radical Republicans.