Twin U.S. cities divided on abortion access
The pastors smiled as they held the doors open, grabbing the hands of those who walked by and urging many to keep praying and to keep showing up. Some responded with a hug. A few grimaced as they squeezed past. Shelley Koch, a longtime resident of southwest Virginia, had witnessed a similar scene many Sunday mornings after church services. On this day, however, it played out in a parking lot outside a modest government building in Bristol where officials had just advanced a proposal that threatens to tear apart the very fabric of her community. For months, residents of the town have battled over whether clinics limited by strict anti-abortion laws in neighboring Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia should be allowed to continue to hop over the border and operate there. The proposal on the table, submitted by anti-abortion activists, was that they shouldn't. The local pastors were on hand to spread that message. "We want people to know that we love everyone,” said Father Chris Hess, pastor of St. Anne's Catholic Church. The conflict is not unique to this border community, which boasts a spot where a person can stand in Virginia and Tennessee at the same time. Similar disputes have broken out across the country following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion.
As featured on
Disputes have broken out in border cities across the country following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision establishing a constitutional right to abortion.
