Thirteen pro-abortion protestors were arrested Tuesday morning outside the Supreme Court, ahead of oral arguments in a case that could dramatically limit access to mifepristone, a widely used abortion pill.
At approximately 8:45 a.m. EDT, U.S. Capitol Police arrested 13 people who, a police spokesperson said in a statement, were “illegally blocking roads and then a walkway.”
The spokesperson added that Capitol Police officers warned the group to stop “blocking the walkway or they would be arrested.”
“They refused, so our officers arrested them,” the spokesperson said, citing crowding, obstructing, or incommoding as possible offenses.
The 13 people arrested were affiliated with the pro-abortion Women’s March and The Center for Popular Democracy – two groups that worked together to organize the rally on Tuesday – a spokesperson for the Women’s March told The Hill.
Among those arrested was Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of the Women’s March, who described the arrest as a purposeful act of resistance.
“This morning, we put our bodies on the line to shine a light on how this totally illegitimate court case could strip millions of women of their rights to make decisions about what is best for their bodies and their families – and we were arrested,” Carmona said in a statement provided through the spokesperson.
“The reality is that this case is personal, and we took it as such. We could not just stand by while our rights to bodily autonomy are potentially revoked by radical politicians and a Supreme Court captured by their agenda,” she continued. “We will continue to resist and work to enshrine bodily freedoms, no matter the consequences. There is too much at stake for women not to.”
The momentous Supreme Court case drew fierce demonstrations from both sides of the debate, as the nation’s highest court returned to the issue of reproductive rights nearly two years after its landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, subsequently ending the federal right to an abortion.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the court, and supporters of abortion rights held signs reading “Bans off our body” and “Abortion is our right.” Opponents held signs with messages including “Abortion pills kill.”
Video footage of the arrest from ABC News showed protesters wearing shirts with pro-abortion messages.
“Feminists vs. Fascists” read the words on a shirt of an individual as he was being arrested, the video showed.
Another person was seen arrested while wearing a shirt that repeated the phrase “Miso &,” referring to the combination of mifepristone and misoprostol that is often administered for a medical abortion. Another shirt, partially obstructed in the footage, appeared to read, “bans off our bodies.”
Story was updated at 9:21 p.m.