Abortion rights supporters protest at US Supreme Court

Washington, Jun 25 (EFE).- Hundreds of abortion rights supporters gathered for a second consecutive day Saturday in front of the Supreme Court to denounce the court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that made abortion legal throughout the United States.

Heeding the call of organizations such as Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, the protesters, mainly young women, were joined outside the fence surrounding the court by a smaller contingent of people celebrating Friday’s ruling.

Aside from a few arguments between individuals, the two groups managed to coexist peacefully, as was the case on Friday.

Ashley Thomas, a resident of Washington’s Dupont Circle neighborhood, came to the pro-choice rally with two of her neighbors.

Carrying a sign likening forced pregnancy to slavery, Thomas told Efe that advocates of abortion rights “won’t allow” authorities to ban the procedure.

Under a hot summer sun, the pro-choice group chanted “abortion is health care,” while their opponents responded: “pro-life is pro-woman.”

Mobilizations in favor of abortion rights were also planned for New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Seattle, among other cities.

With the exception of Phoenix, where police used tear gas to disperse pro-choice protesters after some of them allegedly pounded on the doors of the Arizona state legislature, Friday’s demonstrations unfolded without incident.

The ruling Friday in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization upheld a 2018 Mississippi state law that banned most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The 6-3 decision was widely anticipated after a highly unusual leak of an early draft majority opinion by Justice Samuel Alito in the Dobbs case – published by online news outlet Politico in May – indicated the court was poised to overturn Roe.

In 1973, when the Supreme Court found in favor of Norma McCorvey (“Jane Roe”) in her suit against the state of Texas for prohibiting her from having an abortion, the procedure was only legal in 17 of the 50 states and illegal abortions were common.

With Friday’s ruling, 26 Republican-controlled states will likely move to outlaw abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive-rights think tank.

Planned Parenthood says those 26 states are home to 36 million women of child-bearing age.

Some states had already passed abortion bans – known as “trigger laws” – set to take effect automatically upon the overturning of Roe and the procedure was indeed barred in three states on Friday.

Prior to the Dobbs ruling, a Washington Post-ABC News Poll found that 54 percent of Americans wanted the Supreme Court to uphold Roe v. Wade. EFE arc/dr