DELAWARE WATER GAP, Pa. — Women's Resources of Monroe County in Delaware Water Gap has been helping domestic and sexual violence victims and survivors for over 40 years.
Now that the United States Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, those at the center expect the ruling will impact the women they serve.
"The right to access health care, the right to access reproductive health care, the right to abortions needs to be sacrosanct. It's the right also to privacy, making those decisions," said Lauren Peterson, the executive director for Women's Resources.
Peterson says the ruling will have repercussions for quite some time.
"Certain laws that have come out and said, 'Well, OK, we're going to ban abortions, but in cases of incest or rape.' Well, that's just putting another form of coercion and control onto the victim, forcing them to disclose something terrible that has happened to them."
Peterson says overturning Roe v. Wade doesn't only impact the people she works with.
"The BIPOC community, the black community, those who are low-income, they're going to also disproportionately be affected because they're not going to have as many resources, availability finances possible that others would have the recourse to do so."
Peterson is hopeful that Pennsylvania will enact laws to protect access to reproductive choices.
Newswatch 16 coverage of the abortion decision is also on YouTube.