MACON, Ga. — Saturday marks one year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade - eliminating the federal constitutional right to have an abortion.
The abortion ruling leaked a few days before the opinion dropped, and it led to near-total bans in some republican states.
Some groups are challenging those bans in State Supreme Courts, including Georgia. Here, the state prohibits most abortions once a "detectable human heartbeat" is present at about 6 weeks.
However, there are stipulations for cases of rape or incest. Darrius Butler, a Houston County democrat, was at a rally in Warner Robins when the decision came down.
"My reaction was really shock and horror. I was not expecting the ruling to come down as it did," Butler said.
Ann Beall is the executive director at the Kolbe Center, which is a pregnancy resource center dedicated to assisting families in need.
"I firmly believe that every life created deserves the chance to be lived," Beall said.
Butler still believes the Supreme Court made a grave mistake on impeding women's health.
"You have people who are being forced to carry a birth to term while the child is no longer a viable fetus," he said.
However, Beall is happy to see the government make this decision. The Kolbe Center assists in pregnancy verification, helps with pregnancy tests and ultrasound verification, and much more. She says they've seen double the number of people seeking care at their facility.
"We have seen a huge increase in the women who come to us needing support caring for their children," Beall said.
"I hope that every baby gets the opportunity to be born and that all get the opportunity to come into a loving and safe environment," she said.
Butler says he still feels like it should be the woman's decision not the government's.
"Rights that my mother and older sisters and older aunts and cousins and grandmother had has now been taken away from a lot of the ladies that are in my age bracket and younger," he said.
A year later-- the issue is far from resolved. There are still legal challenges to Georgia's fetal heartbeat law currently making their way through the court system.