Area residents hold protest over ruling

CLOVIS -- About five dozen area residents unhappy with the U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the 50-year-old Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion protested across from the Curry County courthouse on Saturday in Clovis.

Some of the peaceful protesters held pro-choice, pro-abortion signs; some urged passing vehicles to show support by honking horns.

Before protesters started pacing up and down Main Street near the intersection with Seventh Street, Sarah Hartzell addressed the group saying when she heard the news that Roe vs. Wade had been overturned, she was distraught.

Then she started getting in touch with people who had been instrumental in Clovis' Black Lives Matter protest two years ago to organize a civil action on the Supreme Court ruling.

Hartzell said the protest wasn't only about the Roe vs. Wade ruling, it was about possible overturning of the federal same-sex marriage and access to contraceptives rulings.

Tate Turnbough, chair of the Roosevelt County Democratic Party, attended the June 26 Portales protest of the Roe vs. Wade ruling and was asked about the Clovis protest.

"This is a women's rights rally to support women's rights and the right to have an abortion if they need one," Turnbough said. "It's imperative we stand up to wrongdoing like this."

Turnbough said he sees the striking down of the abortion ruling as a loss of equal rights for women.

"Women are the backbone of this country and if we had listened to a woman in the past who said, 'Human rights are women's rights and women's rights are human rights' then we wouldn't be here today," Turnbough said, referencing a quote from Hillary Clinton.

June 24, the day the Supreme Court announced the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the pastor of Clovis' First Christian Church, Jon Forrest, commented on social media, "It's a great day for babies."

Forrest was asked about Saturday's protest in Clovis. He said he wanted to be clear what he had to share is his opinion, not that of his church.

"I find it ironic how people don't really understand what the ruling means,"Forrest said of the overturning of Roe vs. Wade. " Somehow people got the idea that the ruling means the end of abortion. Truth is, all it's doing is sending the issue to the states."

Forrest said New Mexico has one of the most liberal abortion laws in the country, saying people come from all over the country to get abortions in Albuquerque.

Forrest said he's opposed to abortion. "It's "taking the life of the unborn. I think it's a terrible way to practice birth control. I think people need to be a little more responsible with their life so you don't have to take a life," Forrest said.

Forrest said he believes the Supreme Court acted properly as it's not the court's job to institute law, it's to make rulings on the law.

"It's the states who are supposed to make laws," Forrest said. "It's not supposed to be a law unless the right number of states go along with it."