Pro-abortion protestors gathered outside the homes of Justices Kavanaugh and Roberts, holding up signs and chanting ‘Keep abortion safe and legal’ before cops arrived and forced them to leave.
On Saturday dozens of pro-abortion protestors gathered in the rain in DC and marched towards the homes of conservative Justices Kavanaugh and Roberts in response to the leaked Supreme Court draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
On Monday a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion written by Samuel Alito and published by POLITICO revealed that the court has voted to strike down the landmark 1973 ruling Rove v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States.
Scroll Down For Video:
Pro-abortion protestors gathered outside the homes of Justices Kavanaugh and Roberts, holding up signs and chanting ‘Keep abortion safe and legal’ before cops arrived and forced them to leave
On Saturday dozens of pro-abortion protestors gathered in the rain in DC and marched towards the homes of conservative Justices Kavanaugh and Roberts
Protestors chanted ‘Keep abortion safe and legal!’ and ‘Pro-life is a lie! You don’t care if people die!’
Alito’s draft does not necessarily represent the sentiments of other justices who did not pen the opinion, but it’s been suggested that the court’s 5-3 conservative supermajority, which include Justices Roberts and Kavanaugh, will likely deliver on the historic reversal.
Protestors carrying signs that read ‘An abortion saved my family’ and ‘Abortion is Healthcare, Healthcare is a right’ first arrived at Justice Roberts’ home where protestors drew multiple chalk outlines coat hangers, a famous symbol of illegal abortions.
Protestors chanted ‘Keep abortion safe and legal!’ and ‘Pro-life is a lie! You don’t care if people die!’
Then as the sun went down protestors lit candles and marched to Justice Kavanaugh’s home where they packed the streets slowing down traffic and were captured shouting multiple chants angrily.
Later on more protesters appeared to arrive and were heard loudly chanting: ‘We will not go back!’
At a certain point an officer was seen explaining to protestors that they would have to clear the area before cop cars showed up and protestors eventually dispersed, calling it a night.
Saturday’s protests seem to just be the start, liberal group ShutDown DC already has plans to host a ‘Vigil for Abortion Rights’ outside of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s house on May 9.
‘Justice Alito thinks he can take away our rights. But our rights are fundamentally ours. We’re showing up to tell him in person,’ the group said.
Then as the sun went down protestors lit candles and marched to Justice Kavanaugh’s home where they packed the streets slowing down traffic and were captured shouting multiple chants angrily
Protesters outside Kavanaugh’s home arrived and were heard loudly chanting: ‘We will not go back!’
Liberal group ShutDown DC already has plans to host a ‘Vigil for Abortion Rights’ outside of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s house on May 9
‘The evening of Monday, May 9, we will hold a vigil for all these rights that Alito is threatening to take away. Because it’s been impossible to reach him at the Supreme Court (especially now with the enormous fences), we will do it at his home,’ the event description said. ‘At 7:30 pm we will gather at a nearby location and walk together to his house. At the foot of his driveway, on the public street, we will light candles and speakers will share their testimony. We will hold a moment of silence for the rights we know are ours, then walk back together to the meeting location,’
In Alito’s leaked document, conservative Justice Alito wrote that Roe v Wade – the 1973 Supreme Court ruling which found that excessive state regulation of abortion is unconstitutional – was ‘egregiously wrong from the start’ and ‘must be overruled’.
Alito, who was nominated to the court in 2006 by George W Bush, argues that Roe’s ‘reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. Far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.’
But there were few signs that the new ruling will do anything to heal those divisions, with protesters gathering outside the court in Washington DC last night.
If the ruling is overturned by the conservative-dominated court – with Republicans having a 6 – 3 majority – it would give individual states the power to decide on whether to ban abortion. The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research group, has said that 26 states are ‘certain or likely’ to ban abortion if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Abortion rights have been under threat in recent months as Republican-led states move to tighten rules – with some seeking to ban all abortions after six weeks, before many women even know they are pregnant.
These include Arizona, where the Republican Governor in March signed a bill banning abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy; and Idaho where the governor signed a six-week abortion ban that allows family members of the foetus to sue providers who perform abortions past that point, similar to a Texas law enacted last year.
As it stands in the US, abortion can take place until about 24 weeks into pregnancy – but the exact period varies between states. For example, Texas bans abortion after about six weeks but Florida has a 15-week abortion ban.
Just hours after the stunning leak of draft opinion emerged, hundreds of pro-choice and anti-abortion activists gathered in front of the US Supreme Court on Monday night.
Squaring off on either side of the white marble building a stone’s throw from the Capitol, the pro-choice and anti-abortion groups railed at each other.
‘Roe v. Wade is going to go,’ anti-abortion protesters taunted, while the pro-choice crowd yelled: ‘My body, my choice.’
The two groups chanted and waved placards in the plaza in front of the steps to the Supreme Court, with barriers and a few uniformed police officers barring access to the colonnaded building.