WASHINGTON – A sea of protesters gathered outside the Supreme Court Friday, one of many rallies planned across the country after a historically consequential ruling from the high court ended the constitutional right to abortion.
An emotional crowd of hundreds carried signs and chanted “My body, my choice” at the steps of the Supreme Court as they grappled with news that the landmark Roe v. Wade decision was struck down after five decades.
Elsewhere, abortion-rights advocates in cities including Chicago, Philadelphia, Denver, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and New York City planned protests for Friday evening. There were also protests planned in Florida, Missouri, Georgia and Texas.
Outside the Supreme Court, Serena Steiner — a 35-year-old legal assistant from Alexandria, Virginia — had tears in her eyes as she spoke about how the decision would affect her sisters and others nationwide. Steiner texted her sisters after news broke of the ruling, she said, encouraging them to get IUDs and saying “RIP Roe v. Wade.”
“I don’t want them to be forced to have children they don’t want to have,” she said.
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Steiner said she “benefitted from access to abortion as a teenager” and wants abortion healthcare to be accessible to all who need it. Still, she wasn’t surprised by the ruling, she said.
Robin Sabbath, 59, of Detroit Michigan, was in her hotel in Washington, D.C. when the ruling was announced. Sabbath said she is no longer in her “child-bearing years” but came to the protest because “the government should not have the right to tell me what to do regarding my reproductive health.”
“It’s my body, my choice. Period,” said Sabbath, who works in library nonprofits. “…We should all be able to make the choices that are best for us and for our families.”
Jenny LaJeunnese was in town visiting from Atlanta and had no plans to visit the Supreme Court. Then she saw the ruling.
“Maybe we shouldn’t have taken (abortion) for granted,” she said outside the court. The 44-year-old librarian has felt protected by the landmark ruling her entire life and protesting outside the court helped her “not feel tiny, insignificant, or helpless.”
Meanwhile, anti-abortion activists also gathered in Washington. Some sparred with protesters outside the court, though the demonstration remained peaceful. Several people were seen being escorted by police as shouting broke out between the groups.
President Joe Biden, while acknowledging the ruling puts women across the country in danger, asked for those who gather to protest to remain peaceful.
“I call on everyone, no matter how deeply they care about this decision, to keep all protests peaceful,” he said. “Violence is never acceptable. Threats and intimidation are not speech. We must stand against violence in any form regardless of your rationale.”
In anticipation of mounting demonstrations, the U.S. Capitol Police said it was mobilizing additional officers and resources while working with other law enforcement agencies.
A key bridge connecting Maryland to D.C. was shut down for hours after a person climbed up one of the arches on the Frederick Douglas Memorial Bridge. Footage taken by local news stations showed the person, wearing a red T-shirt, sitting atop the bridge.
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Protests begin in Florida, Kentucky and beyond
Cheyenne Cheile, a Florida-based co-founder of the Women’s Advocacy Movement of Pinellas, helped spearhead a protest in St. Petersburg, Florida, on Friday afternoon shortly after the Roe v. Wade decision was announced.
Cheile told USA TODAY she anticipated at least 1,000 people showing up for the Bans off our Bodies rally.
“Politicians and judges, we feel, have no business interfering in our decisions about what we do with our bodies, and right here in Florida, our elected officials have already attacked our right to make decisions,” Cheile said.
In April, Florida Gov. DeSantis signed into law a 15-week abortion ban that shortened the window to legally terminate a pregnancy by two months.
In Jacksonville, Florida Planned Parenthood PAC members stood outside City Hall, holding hands. Some were stoic while others had tears welling in their eyes.
“Today I woke up holding my breath, reached for my phone and began refreshing my Twitter feed compulsively,” said Abbey Vickery, a local reproductive rights activist. “When I saw the news, I sat in all of the emotions I already knew were coming. The same ones that are so familiar to all of us — hurt, scared, furious.”
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Baileigh Johnson, an activist who said she had an abortion when she was 29, wore a shirt that said “KEEP ABORTIONS SAFE.” She said abortions need to be “normalized.”
She added, “abortions save lives — it saved mine too.”
At EMW Women’s Surgical Center, the lone full-time abortion clinic in Kentucky, a few protesters gathered Friday morning outside the downtown facility.
Joseph Spurgeon, a pastor at a church in nearby Jeffersonville, Indiana, said they had come out to celebrate “the grace of God”, adding he will continue to lead his congregation in pushing to outlaw not only medications capable of terminating pregnancies, but contraceptives such as Plan B.
Contributing: Kenneth Tran and Katherine Swartz, USA TODAY; Lucas Aulbach, (Louisville) Courier Journal; Emily Bloch, Florida Times-Union
Contact News Now Reporter Christine Fernando at cfernando@usatoday.com or follow her on Twitter at @christinetfern.