Kathryn McGrath

McGrath said she was scrolling on social media and learned the news of the leaked decision. She then looked to a news source to confirm the information, and when she confirmed it was true,she felt shock and “could barely believe it.”

“It felt like something that could be coming, but I don’t think I really thought that it would happen until I saw that,” McGrath said.

It’s scary to think about, McGrath said, that if she ever wanted to get an abortion — for whatever reason — that option will likely be taken away in some states.

“It’s really disheartening growing up during this time,” McGrath said. “It’s taking away a fundamental right of women. It feels like we have to keep fighting this fight and we can never push through the glass ceiling.”

As a student at Ivy Tech Community College studying nursing, McGrath said she has learned that an abortion is not a risky procedure but pregnancy and delivery can be high risk. Beyond that, McGrath said that overturning Roe v. Wade won’t stop abortions but will lead women to seek unsafe options to terminate a pregnancy.

“We know from the past, before Roe v. Wade, women still got abortions. They just weren’t as safe,” McGrath said. “We know they will take other measures to get (an abortion). They just won’t be as safe of ways.”

When it comes to the argument that ending a pregnancy ends a life, McGrath said that is a religious-based argument and people “need to focus on lives that are on Earth, not just unborn lives.”

“It just seems like there’s no focus on the woman’s life or these other kids who are in adoption or foster care and are in really bad places because these systems aren’t where they need to be,” McGrath said.

McGrath said she feels the draft decision will be the final decision.

In the back of her mind, McGrath said she has felt that one day she’d like kids — after she finishes college and establishes her career. But with the possibility of Roe v. Wade being overturned, McGrath said she isn’t sure wants kids anymore because she doesn’t want to potentially raise a daughter in a country where her right to choose could be limited.

“It definitely has changed how I feel about having my own children and maybe not wanting that anymore,” she said.