TOLEDO, Ohio — Dozens of people stood outside the Toledo Municipal Court building on Tuesday making their voices heard about the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
"I was your good, perfect kid. You know, Catholic perfect kid that went to Catholic school," Mo Szurko said. "Then when I was like, 'mom and dad, I'm queer and not pro-life,' it all changed."
Growing up pro-life, Szurko is now pro-choice fighting for change and for women's rights.
Jeff Barefoot, with Toledo Right to Life, addressed what he hears as a counter to the pro-life stance. "[They say] 'anybody that doesn't support that right, obviously is against women,'" Barefoot said. "It doesn't occur to them that people in the pro-life movement could actually love little children and want to sacrifice their time and their money to protect them."
Barefoot said people who are pro-choice don't want Ohioans to have the right to decide what to do with abortion.
"The reason they don't want that is because they know if it's turned over to the voters of Ohio, they will lose," he said. "Ohioans will not support abortion past the first trimester."
But Szurko explained voting is the only answer.
"My biggest thing, other than this is an everybody problem and your voice is just as important as ours, is to vote," Szurko said. "That sounds super cliché. I am off voting [age] by one month, but my biggest thing is to vote, vote, vote."
Too young to vote yet, but already pushing for the power of each voice to be heard.
"Sitting here to have to go outside of court houses and fight for my rights as someone who's not even 18, I'm not fit to be a parent. I don't have the money, I don't have the anything to be a parent," Szurko said. "So the fact that I even have to risk that is ridiculous. It's not okay."
"People of goodwill can disagree with one another," Barefoot said. "But we really need to treat each other with respect."
Abortions are still legal in Ohio as of now, but only before a fetal heartbeat is detected, which is typically around 6 weeks.