In one southern Illinois town, residents grapple with abortion's past and future

Addison Pesek sits on the curb of a 1950s-era Dairy Queen, the small ice cream shop’s neon glow washing over her and her family on a recent summer evening.

Dozens of local residents wait in line to order from the Carbondale staple as the 22-year-old enjoys a cup of ice cream with her 5-year-old daughter Kinley in her lap, murmuring how she’s excited to start school in the fall.

“I want to learn about space,” Kinley says. “I want to be an astronaut.”

Pesek says she was very young when she had her first child, but a stable support system is what got her through challenging times. She said she realizes not everyone has the same privilege and is all too familiar with Carbondale’s latest hot-button debate — abortion clinics coming to town.

"I personally believe that it would be a good decision," she said of the possibility of abortion providers choosing to open clinics in Carbondale. “At the end of the day, it’s your body. As a woman, we have to go through that, nobody else.”