Pro-choice supporters in Monterey protest Alabama abortion ban law

Pro-choice supporters in Monterey and across the Central Coast spoke out against the new abortion laws in Alabama and other states on Tuesday.

They argued the decision on abortion should be made between women and their families and doctors, not politicians. They joined the national day of protest against a wave of bills adding new restrictions on abortion.

This includes Alabama’s recent decision to ban nearly all forms of abortion, including in cases of rape or incest. People we spoke with say this is not for the government to decide.

While they do not think a law like this will happen in California any time soon, protesters say they are taking a stand for access to safe, legal healthcare, arguing that abortion bans put women at risk.

“Women’s lives will be in danger potentially,” said Daniel Weinstein, a Seaside resident.

Protesters told KION they are not pro-abortion, but rather believe it should be up to each individual woman to choose what is best for her.

“It’s sadly those people that don’t have those economic and financial means that are the ones that suffer from laws like the ones being proposed in Alabama,” Co-minister Axel Gehrmann of the Unitarian Universalist Church of the Monterey Peninsula said.

But some more conservative local church are still pro-life, like the Monterey Peninsula Seventh-Say Adventist Church in Pacific Grove, who rest their foundation in the Bible.

We sat down with the church’s Pastor Gary Ford. He said the members of his largely conservative Christian denomination are against abortions, adding that it’s deep rooted in their faith.

“Life is valuable and god is in charge of life and we’re not people that want to see that destroyed,” Ford said.

Governor Newsom recently announced a plan to spend $100 million to expand access to reproductive health care in California.