INDIANAPOLIS — A new poll from the Washington Post and ABC News found 70% of Americans think the decision on abortion should be left to a woman and her doctor, while 24% believe it should be regulated by law.
In Indiana, it's a decision thousands of women make every year, one of whom told 13News it changed her life forever.
Almost nine years ago, Victoria Barrett and her husband Andrew made a choice.
“The process was, I think, not a typical abortion, in that we did have a choice, but the choices we had were not typical,” Barrett explained.
The couple learned early on in Victoria’s first pregnancy that the baby she was carrying would likely not make it to term because of chromosomal abnormalities that altered the way the baby was developing.
“We had an ultrasound where we could see the severe problems in her body,” said Barrett.
So just shy of 16 weeks into her pregnancy, Victoria had an abortion.
“It wasn’t a choice between have a child and not have a child. It was a choice between have an abortion or have a potentially dangerous and potentially fertility destroying miscarriage at some point in the coming months,” she said.
Three months later, she was pregnant with her oldest son, Finn. Sixteen months later came Ewan.
“I know, without a doubt, if we hadn’t chosen the abortion, there wouldn’t be two little boys who live in this house with me,” she said.
Now, this mother of two grade-schoolers wonders what women who find themselves in similar circumstances will do if the right to an abortion is overturned.
“We’re pretty confident that it will be outlawed here, so the best bet for somebody in my circumstance would probably be to go to Chicago,” said Barrett.
What happens, though, if someone can’t afford that kind of trip?
“The people who are going to be most impacted are going to be low-income women, poor women who may not have the means to travel in order to get access to abortion,” said Dr. India Thusi, a professor at IU Maurer School of Law.
Thusi said she read the draft opinion from the Supreme Court and said its argument that privacy is not a part of the liberty guaranteed by the Constitution could eventually impact other rights.
“It’s really an opening to undermine our right to privacy," she said. "Our right to engage in things like obtaining contraception, that states will be able to restrict those rights. It’s a very scary opinion."
“We are going to lose so much more than our ability to have an abortion,” Barrett said.
A protected right she had access to, one she believes others should as well, no matter the reason behind their choice.
“My story is an extreme circumstance where it didn’t feel like a choice, but I believe in choice pretty unconditionally, and I think pregnancy and parenthood are deeply personal,” Barrett said.