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HealthRoe v. Wade

‘Abortion on demand & without apology’: pro- and anti-choice activists react with tears outside Supreme Court on the day it overturned Roe v. Wade

By
Alex Scimecca
Alex Scimecca
and
Christine Mui
Christine Mui
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Alex Scimecca
Alex Scimecca
and
Christine Mui
Christine Mui
Down Arrow Button Icon
June 24, 2022, 11:32 AM ET
Pro-choice demonstrators react to the Supreme Court's decision on Friday.
Pro-choice demonstrators react to the Supreme Court's decision on Friday.Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images

Crowds of pro-choice and antiabortion protesters gathered in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Friday morning after justices overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade case. 

Demonstrators faced off holding signs and banners with opposing messages—“abortion on demand & without apology” and “dismember roe”— while others stormed the streets with megaphones. The crowd began as a pre-planned anti-abortion rally, attended briefly by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, and grew as counterprotesters and others awaiting the decision joined.

“I feel betrayed, and I feel lost,” 19-year-old Skye told NBC. “Hopefully, in the future, we can have some progress and not just be moving backward.”  

Another said they scaled Washington, D.C.’s Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge to fly a green banner, a color associated with the fight for abortion rights, from the top of one of its arches.

A pro-life supporter declared “This is amazing. This is probably the best day in American history in my lifetime!” to TalkTV. 

The much-anticipated decision has brought a consistent group of protesters in front of the Supreme Court on weekdays that the court has scheduled to release an opinion. Protesters have also marched regularly near the justices’ houses in the D.C. area.

Here is what it looked like outside of the Supreme Court on the day that the justice overturned the national right to an abortion. 

Anti-abortion activists celebrate.
Gemunu Amarasinghe—AP Images
A celebration outside the Supreme Court.
Steve Helber—AP Images
An abortion rights demonstrator outside the Supreme Court.
Samuel Corum—Bloomberg/Getty Images
Pro-life activists react at the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade.
Bill Clark—CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images
Activists react outside the Supreme Court.
Brandon Bell—Getty Images
Protest demonstration outside the Supreme Court.
Steve Helber—AP Images
People protest the Supreme Court’s decision on Friday, June 24, 2022, outside the Supreme Court.
Steve Helber—AP Images
Anti-abortion campaigners celebrate outside the Supreme Court.
Olivier Douliery—AFP/Getty Images
Pro-choice supporters react outside the Supreme Court.
Olivier Douliery—AFP/Getty Images
A pro-life supporter reacts outside the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC.
Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images
Members of the House of Representatives walk from the Capitol to the Supreme Court to protest its abortion decision.
Steve Helber—AP Images
Pro-life supporters celebrate outside the US Supreme Court.
Olivier Douliery—AFP/Getty Images

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About the Authors
By Alex Scimecca
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By Christine Mui
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