As the U.S. Supreme Court inches closer to its highly anticipated decision on an abortion case that will seal the fate of the controversial 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade, which made abortion legal on demand in America for nearly 50 years, some protesters at our nation’s Capitol are saying, enough is enough, “we’re ready for a post-Roe world!”
Demonstrators on both sides of the abortion issue have been gathering for weeks in front of the Supreme Court in anticipation of the forthcoming decision in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This landmark ruling concerns a Mississippi law banning abortions after 15 weeks, directly challenging the constitutionality of Roe, and if the Court upholds Dobbs, it would effectively abolish Roe as a federal statute and send the abortion issue back to the states, where it first originated.
In Washington, D.C., both anti-abortion and pro-abortion groups have been marching, chanting, and praying amid a strong police presence, as tensions are rising. Early Monday morning, according to a Right Side Broadcasting report, the pro-abortion crowd was sizably greater, with one group attempting to shut down several streets around the grounds of the Court, currently walled in by a large, steel fence.
Police on bicycles and on foot created human shields to keep tourists safe, to separate the two groups, and to prevent protesters from blocking any roadways. Reportedly, they threatened to arrest protesters who attempted to shut down any part of the city.
One reportedly “hostile” scene captured people screaming obscenities and verbally abusing journalists who were there to speak with organizations on both sides of the issue. Reporter Brian Glenn observed, “I am convinced that a lot of the people here right now are paid protesters. They only have three or four talking points they chant over and over again, and they don’t want to have a conversation about the issue.”
Clearly, the two sides have very different approaches to being heard on the issue.
“This is bigger than race and politics,” said one protester holding a sign that read “Stop Hating Each Other Because You Disagree.” “We gotta stop talking at each other and start talking to each other,” he explained. “The way they [long-term politicians] stay in power, is because they keep us divided.”
Other protesters’ signs read, “Defend the right to abortion by any means necessary. Build Mass Mobilization as the Road to Victory, the Real Power is in the Streets!”
One young woman, whose mother opted for life over an abortion when faced with that choice at a young age, told Glenn that being at the protest was a very personal decision. “I’m standing in front of you today because my mom chose life. It’s as real as this,” she said. “I’m here speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves. Those 63 million people who were snuffed out before they could say a word.”
Another demonstrator, this one with a sign advocating for the preservation of Roe, told Glenn, “We have to think of the lives of the women at stake who maybe can’t carry the baby to term…. If my religion says I can have an abortion, or if my own conscious says that, then I should be able to follow my own religion and not be persecuted and held liable for something I don’t agree with.”
In the wake of the unprecedented Politico release of the leaked draft opinion that states Roe will be overturned, there has been an assassination attempt on Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s life, as well as threats of intimidation and illegal protests near the homes of other conservative Supreme Court justices.
Chief Justice John Roberts condemned the betrayal of the Court, issuing a statement on May 3 that “To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the Court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed. The work of the Court will not be affected in any way.” Roberts has pledged an investigation into the source of the leak, which is currently underway.
But what can we really know about what is in store for the country concerning the fate of Roe? Will the justices cave to the pressure of violence and leftist mob tactics, or will they stand for what is right and return the abortion issue to the states?
PAAU (Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising) founder Terrisa Bukovinac, who made national headlines with associate Lauren Handy for the discovery of more than 115 murdered babies in a box from a D.C. late-term abortion clinic, says she will keep fighting. “I moved here from San Francisco two years ago to be here for this reason. We will be here on Wednesday; we will be here on every single decision day. Roe v Wade originated in Texas and to see such an abortion ban [i.e., the fetal heartbeat ban] go into effect there, I think really signals we’re going to win this. We are going to get to a place where killing a baby any time between conception and birth is a crime.”
