PHOENIX — Thousands of people, from all walks of life, gathered at the State Capitol Thursday for the Arizona March for Life, in the post-Roe v. Wade era.
There were food trucks, balloons, and many people holding signs. One of them read “Roe is history!”
The overturning of Roe v Wade gave each state the power to decide on its abortion status.
In Arizona, abortion is legal up to 15 weeks, but many who attended the rally want abortions to be banned completely.
“In the name of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit. Amen,” Bishop John Dolan said, to start the event. “Bless our state, our great state of Arizona."
State representatives and legislators also made an appearance and said a few words.
Eventually, the march began.
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“The energy and the joy is contagious, so my heart is very light and it’s beautiful to see Arizona come together,” said Jeanne Mancini, the President of March for Life.
Lori Zee Gray joined in on the march and said, “Oo, there’s thousands here. They are all marching for life. To save the lives of the pre-borns and the hearts and the should of their mothers."
Gray says she became pregnant at 17 years old. She says a school counselor referred her to Planned Parenthood, which she says referred her to a clinic.
She was 20 weeks pregnant at the time. “I didn’t know that, and they performed an abortion. Damaged my cervix. My heart. My spirit. My soul,” said Gray.
Now she advocates for women to explore their options and makes sure they know they’re not alone and that there are resources to help.
Tami Beyer, who attended the AZ March for Life was also pregnant as a teen and said, “Sometimes I think about what if I was one of those girls who didn’t know what the choices were and I was told that the only option I had was abortion."
RELATED: What happened in Arizona when Roe v. Wade was overturned
Beyer chose to have her little girl.
Her daughter is all grown up now and helps hundreds of single moms in the Valley through Single Moms' Spa at Vineyard Church North Phoenix.
“She literally started the ministry that serves 200 women a year now, and just out of the goodness of her heart,” Beyer told ABC15.
Though, those aren't the only viewpoints in the abortion debate.
Brittany Fonteno, the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Arizona sent ABC15 the following statement:
Let me be clear: abortion is essential, time-sensitive health care and we will not allow extremists to bully our patients and providers from receiving and delivering care. Every person deserves to have access to the full range of the sexual and reproductive health care they need — including abortion — and at Planned Parenthood Arizona we’re committed to meeting the health care needs of as many Arizonans as possible.
At Planned Parenthood, we’ll continue fighting with everything we've got to make sure everyone has access to the sexual and reproductive health care they need to make their own decisions about their body, their life, and their future — no matter who they are or where they live.
Dawn Beyer was at the event with her three children.
She tells us she agrees women should have a choice, but only when it comes to their own life.
“Once you become pregnant and there’s another living human heartbeat in you, it’s no longer your own body, you have two,” she said.
A sea of people with signs marched around the Capitol, some even singing.
“Women deserve better than abortion and babies absolutely deserve to live, and so that’s why we march,” said Gray.
