Mike Pence Tells South Carolina Protest ‘Roe Must Go’ Amid Protests
SPARTANBURG, SC – Former Vice President and staunch anti-abortion Mike Pence addresses an audience in Spartanburg, South Carolina, Thursday night to pray that conservative Supreme Court justices, who have been targeted by abortion rights opponents, stand their ground and overturn the Roe v. Wade case.
“Our Supreme Court has the opportunity to undo that historic mistake once and for all,” Pence said of the landmark 1973 court decision that legalized abortion.
“Roe has to go,” he told 1,250 people packed into the Spartanburg Memorial Auditorium, the site of the Carolina Pregnancy Center’s annual Spring Gala.
“Life is winning in America,” Pence said. “Democrats will legalize prenatal abortion. Make no mistake about it, Democrats and radical leftists will push for more extreme policies as long as Roe v. Wade is the law of the land. band.”
Meanwhile, outside the auditorium, about 150 abortion rights protesters chanted and held up signs.
Signs include “My Body, My Choices”, “Hunk 4 Choices”, “Hon Horns If You Support Women”, “Not Your Maid” and “You Aren’t”. trust my choices – but with a child?”
“I’m here because I don’t believe that anyone should control my body but me,” said University of South Carolina student and protester Jasmine Webber.
Thursday’s event – planned months in advance – comes days after a leaked draft was published by Politico, suggested Roe v. Wade will be overturned of the Supreme Court.
“This is an important week in the career of a lifetime,” Pence said. “I believe with all my heart that life is winning in America. The Supreme Court will not be threatened.”
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Pence on leak: ‘Undermining the judiciary’
Ahead of the event, Pence addressed the leaked manuscript after touring the Carolina Pregnancy Center’s new portable ultrasound device.
“The leak of a draft opinion is to the Supreme Court of the United States of America really undermining the judiciary of the United States,” Pence said. “I welcome Chief Justice Roberts’ assurance that it will not affect the court’s outcome and I am confident that it will not,” Pence said.
At the event, Pence said he agreed with the content of the draft that states should be the ones to determine the legality of abortion.
Many prominent Republican elected officials and party leaders were in attendance, including U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, whom Mr. Pence praised for his nomination of conservative judges to the office. Supreme Court under former President Donald Trump.
“It is a sad day for the Supreme Court and a dangerous day for the Rule of Law. The radical assault on our institutions and the Constitution itself has reached new heights with the gives a draft opinion on a major issue facing the Court,” Graham tweeted Tuesday.
Pence praised South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster for signing into law the fetal heart rate bill last year, which would ban most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Planned Parenthood sued, and in February, a federal appeals court upheld a lower court ruling temporarily blocking South Carolina’s law enforcement.
Protesters: Overturning Roe v. Wade ‘would be a tragedy’
“Back in the 1980s, I was the executive director of the rape crisis,” Father Jean Batson-Turner of Boiling Springs, South Carolina, said during a protest outside the auditorium. “I have introduced abortionists. They were safe. “
Batson-Turner added: “They were even free for a while. And it breaks my heart to see how far we’ve come and then have to go back. We needed this to make this work for us. our daughter for our mother, our grandmother. for everyone.”
Batson-Turner said that the reversal of Roe and Wade would be “a tragedy.”
“Women’s groups are going to have to expend energy trying to fight that when they need to come forward,” says Batson-Turner.
Alice Sutton, a retired health care worker, said the fight between Roe and Wade “is about freedom.”
“And like most Americans, I believe in freedom, freedom to choose our own religion, freedom for women to vote for what we fought for in the early 20th century. Freedom for women to own property, to give us the freedom to own our own bodies, and to choose the best healthcare for us.
“And to stay healthy. If abortion were illegal, a lot of women would die,” Sutton said, adding: “So this is really about freedom and personal choice.”