ATLANTA — After Monday’s Roe v. Wade leak, women and members of the LGBTQ community are wondering if their right to same-sex marriage or birth control will follow if this monumental statute is overhauled.
Channel 2′s Justin Carter spoke with Jamie Fergerson, executive director of Atlanta Pride who called the leak of a proposed first draft of an opinion, by Justice Samuel Alito, calling for the reversal of Roe v. Wade “concerning.”
“If the overturning of Roe v. Wade does hinge on the right to privacy, that has potential implications on the LGBTQ community in other ways,” Fergerson said, “including marriage equality, housing rights, gender confirming health care.”
These are rights that people in the LQBTQ community have fought hard for.
“It was just a few years ago that marriage equality became the law of the land so a lot of us are thinking about those days of concern for our families, for our children, for our housing, and our own health and safety,” Fergerson said.
Georgia State law professor Eric Segall told Channel 2′s Linda Stouffer on Tuesday that he feels for them.
“In addition to completely redoing abortion law, of course, I think there are strong hints in this opinion, again, a draft, that the court is probably ready, willing, and able to revisit its overturning of the bans on same-sex marriage,” Segall said.
Getting access to birth control is another unknown, something Keri Washington wonders will be the next to go.
“There are women out here who can’t afford to have babies, I can barely keep up with two cats,” Washington said. “If you take away contraceptives, then you are forcing these women into childbirth and motherhood.”
“I think the march to social justice human rights for everyone is a long march,” Washington said. “There are wins and there are losses along the way, but what I know is that we can’t get complacent. We need to keep working.”
Fergerson says no matter what you believe, she says that it’s important to vote for policies and candidates that represent your interests and needs.
“Channel fears you may have into change,” she said.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
TRENDING STORIES:
STORY 1
STORY 2
STORY 3
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
©2022 Cox Media Group
