BEAUMONT, Texas — Abortion is a deeply emotional issue for a lot of women in the world.
For some women, it goes beyond women stopping unwanted pregnancies.
Devastation, fear, and pain shape 72-year-old Marguerite Jones' reaction to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“Today, somewhere in America, a woman is going to die in the effort to give birth and you just took away her right to prevent that,” said Southeast Texan Marguerite Jones.
She remembers how she felt when abortion became legal. She was 22 years old at the time.
“There was a sense of elation that we felt that we had been recognized as human beings with a right to life,” Jones said.
And now 50 years later, there's a reversal from the high court.
“A lot of women have to have an abortion for medical reasons,” Jones said.
Jones had a personal encounter herself. When she was 26 years old, she had a D&C procedure, where doctors removed tissue from inside her uterus.
She said her boyfriend at the time didn't respond well.
“Just because I had had that procedure, he assumed I had aborted his baby,” Jones said. “But that procedure bought me another 15 years before I had to have a total hysterectomy to prevent me from dying of cancer.”
For 50 years, Roe v. Wade has impacted generations of women. Jones' niece, Jill Goomda, had an ectopic pregnancy in 2015.
“I started bleeding and they're having pain,” Goomda said. “They tried a dose of methotrexate which will terminate a pregnancy it didn't work. So, they tried a second dose. We waited two weeks again; it didn't work. My only option left at that point was emergency abortion.”
This document is an overview of Goomda's procedure. She said in today's world, she could have been left to die.
And that fear will likely drive other women to safe haven states.
“There's an underground railroad for women in 2022. Think about that for a second,” Goomda said. “There are people volunteering to help women in need out, whether it's to get to another state where they can get the medical care.”
Despite the recent court ruling, Jones remains hopeful.
“I had one choice, pregnancy I mean hysterectomy or death,” Jones said. “And I would rather be alive and since then I went to nursing school. I'm an RN and I have saved lives. And I think that counts more than me having a baby.”