'Roe Is Gone, We Are Not': Toms River Protesters Say Fight Isn't Over

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Back in the early 1960s, there were hospital wards that treated women who were ill or injured from an illegal abortion.

"I was a nursing student back then," said Ann, a Lakewood resident, as she stood at along Water Street in Toms River holding a sign that read "Abortion is Health Care."

"Those wards were always full," Ann said. There were women who had gotten infections from unsterilized equipment, women who had suffered punctured uteruses and had to have hysterectomies. In the years before 1973, many of the women died, she said.

"After Roe, those wards no longer existed," she said. "We can't go back to those days."

That was the sentiment of the about 100 protesters who lined Water Street to protest the U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Friday that overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 court decision that said women had a right to abortion.

The Supreme Court's 6-3 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization rejected the landmark decision and a subsequent case on fetal viability, Planned Parenthood v. Casey. It also has set the stage for a patchwork of state laws across the country and a seismic shift in abortion rights.

That is why the Ocean County chapter of the National Organization for Women organized Monday's rally. While New Jersey has codified into law the rights of women to choose an abortion, that right could be taken away simply through a change in who rules the state, said Lynda Fote, the chapter president.

"Roe is gone, but we are not," she said to the group of women and men who came to the protest.

Some of those participating were from right nearby.

"I come from a very religious background," said Danielle, 24, of Toms River, who joined the protest with her roommates Rachel and Melchior. "I would never tell someone what they can or can't do."

She listened as Ann spoke forcefully about her experience as a nursing student at Roosevelt Hospital, seeing so many women sick and dying, and of her later years working in a neonatal intensive care unit, where they fought to save the lives of prematurely born babies.

She said babies born before 22 weeks almost never survived, no matter how hard they fought to save them.

"Their intestines aren't fully formed, their lungs aren't fully formed, they're too immature to support life (outside the womb)," she said, referring to some of babies she saw that were 20 weeks gestation.

"We worked really hard to save them, but they rarely survived," she said. "Things have not gotten much better in 40 years" when it comes to the survival of premature babies, she said.

The protest drew mothers and daughters and grandchildren from Ocean County and beyond. Terri drove from Florence with her daughters and two granddaughters to be part of the protest.

"My mom would have been here too if she had been feeling up to it," Terri said.

For her, the issue is simple: It isn't her right or business to dictate to others what to do about their reproductive decisions.

"I want my granddaughters to have a choice," she said. But the Roe decision was concerning for another reason.

"I think this is just the start of them taking away other rights," Terri said.

Her daughter, Kerri, said she sees the effects on children of being born into families where there are not enough resources to care for them properly.

"When you're out in the field as a teacher you see the outcome," Kerri said. "You see kids whose only meal of the day is what they eat in school, who only have one set of clothes. Teachers fill the gaps because we love our students."

"Forcing people to have children is only going to put more children in that situation," she said.

Lynn from Bayville held a sign saying "Still Fighting after over 30 years for basic human rights." She said she marched in Washington, DC, in 1992 in support of reproductive freedom, and said she wants her daughters to have the ability to choose without interference.

"I used to volunteer at Planned Parenthood," she said, and she was taught how to lift patients coming to the clinic over protesters lying on the sidewalk, so they could access not only abortion but the contraceptive services and health exams provided by the clinics.

The stream of traffic on Water Street had been steady for the nearly 90 minutes the protesters had been holding up signs and chanting various messages, including "We won't go back." There were a sizeable number of vehicles that honked in support as they drove by, drawing cheers from the protesters. Only a few shouted rude comments. One guy in a pickup truck who was harassing protesters tore off when a Toms River police officer approached.

"I've only gotten the middle finger twice," Lynn said.

Fote said the work to fight for reproductive freedom isn't over just because the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and encouraged those who came to the protest to get involved in the fight beyond just the protest.

For Danielle, the 24-year-old, the message wasn't lost that the fight is continuing.

"I want to have children someday," she said. "I don't want them to live in a post-Roe world."