A group of protesters gathered on the sidewalks at Holloway Park in downtown Cedartown – just in front of Polk County Courthouse No. 2 – seeking to have their voices heard.

Their concerns over a woman’s right to choose were met mostly with drivers going by in silence, but several honked and waved as signs were waved and music played during the two-hour protest.

Shelby Padgett, who organized the gathering, said that it boiled down to this one fact: the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in recent days isn’t banning abortion, but legal abortion. Access to safe healthcare options shouldn’t be curtailed from state to state, and that access is now in jeopardy here in Georgia.

“You can’t ban abortions. You can only ban safe abortions,” Padgett said. “I trust women to make their own decisions, and I think that abortion is healthcare, and that’s the biggest takeaway.”

This ongoing battle over a woman’s right to choose is usually met with a walk and prayer service in late January marking the anniversary of when the US Supreme Court handed down the decision in 1973. Now the right to choose is back in the forefront of many minds, and the battle is far from over. That is the case for local resident Melanie Love, who said she would be back out to keep fighting.

“They’re trying to take that right away from us. They can’t do that… we’re in the middle of the bible belt. So we’re going to have to do this (protest), and do this, and do this, until we’re heard,” Love said.

Padgett said there are plans for future gatherings, but the heat of the middle of the day limited time outdoors to just two hours as they continued outside of the courthouse until 2 p.m. after starting at noon.

The reproductive rights of women are currently that an abortion can be performed up to 20 weeks into a pregnancy, but that could change with the latest decision by the US Supreme Court on the matter.

Georgia legislators and Gov. Brian Kemp signed the LIFE Act, or Living Infants Fairness and Equality Act, in 2019, would put in place a six week window to allow for an abortion in the state. The law – which was ruled unconstitutional in 2020 – is still trying to wind its way back into being the rule of the land. Attorney General Chris Carr has already filed a request for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals to give Georgia the go-ahead to implement the rules signed by the governor three years ago. 

No decision has yet been handed down on the matter.