Protestors gathered outside the US Supreme Court as the decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which made abortion a constitutional right for Americans, was released.
Both supporters and opponents of abortion rights took to the streets ahead of the ruling, shouting conflicting cheers as the long-awaited opinion was released Friday morning.
Hundreds were gathered awaiting to hear what would come of the highly debated case, and just after 10.10am, the crowd erupted as the opinion was publicized.
Abortion advocates roared in disbelief and anger at the ruling, many visibly upset by the decision, while cheers of joy erupted from pro-life demonstrators.
Both groups continued various conflicting chants throughout the morning. As many pro-life advocates cheered, abortion rights protestors remained persistent in getting their message of outrage and despair across.
Pro-life groups danced in celebration, many cheering ‘This is what a pro-life feminist looks like’ and ‘We are the pro-life generation and we will abolish abortion.’
Those pleased with the decision blew bubbles and played celebratory music as they marked the end to a nearly 50-year-old ruling that granted all Americans the right to an abortion during their first trimester of pregnancy.
While some celebrated, others were heartbroken by the news, which to many felt unthinkable just a few years ago before the court was appointed three conservative justices by former President Donald Trump.
In comments this afternoon President Joe Biden urged protestors to remain peaceful.
‘I call on everyone no matter how deeply they care about this decision, to keep all protests peaceful. No intimidation. Violence is never acceptable. Threats and intimidation are not speech. We must stand against violence in any form, regardless of your rationale,’ Biden said.
Abortion rights activists remained persistent in their message, chanting: ‘We won’t go back! We won’t go back!’ and ‘My body, my choice!’
At one point, abortion rights advocates could be crying out: ‘F— you SCOTUS! You don’t care about us!’
Activists from both sides of the argument could be seen crying over the news.
The decision to overturn Roe, the landmark ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, comes as little surprise after a draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito was and published by in May.
Alito, in the final opinion issued Friday, wrote that Roe and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the 1992 decision that reaffirmed the right to abortion, were wrong and must be overturned.
‘The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by constitutional provision,’ Alito wrote.
‘Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,’ Alito wrote in his majority opinion. ‘Its reasoning was exceptionally weak, and the decision has had damaging consequences. And far from bringing about a national settlement of the abortion issue, Roe and Casey have enflamed debate and deepened division.’
In a joint dissenting opinion, Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan criticized the majority, writing in closing: ‘With sorrow — for this Court, but more, for the many millions of American women who have today lost a fundamental constitutional protection — we dissent.’
‘After today, young women will come of age with fewer rights than their mothers and grandmothers had,’ Breyer wrote. ‘The majority accomplishes that result without so much as considering how women have relied on the right to choose or what it means to take that right away.’
With Roe overturned, individual states are responsible to determine how they will regulate abortions. In 13 states there are so-called trigger laws in place that take immediate effect once Roe is struck down to ban or limit access to abortion. About half a dozen other states have near total bans after six weeks of pregnancy, long before most people know they are pregnant.
However, in 16 states and the District of Columbia, there have been laws passed protecting the right to an abortion even without Roe.
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