Rallies planned as U.S. Supreme Court hears high-stakes abortion challenge

[December 01, 2021]  By Julia Harte

(Reuters) - Pro-choice and anti-abortion activists will hold dueling rallies in front of the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday, as the justices hear arguments in a case that could overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

Organizers on each side said they expected hundreds of activists to arrive starting early Wednesday. The justices will meet at 10 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) to consider Mississippi's bid to revive a Republican-backed 2018 state law, blocked by lower courts, banning abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy.

At noon, about 60 pro-choice activists will engage in an act of "civil disobedience" outside the court building in Washington, according to one of the participants, Heidi Sieck, the CEO and co-founder of #VOTEPROCHOICE, a voter mobilization project dedicated to electing candidates who support access to abortion.
 

Sieck said the group will "engage in radical self-expression" with signs, songs and costumes, and that they plan to sit in the streets until forced to move, which could run afoul of local laws against blocking city streets to traffic.

"If that does include an arrest, so be it," Sieck said in an interview.

The fact that the court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, agreed to hear the Mississippi case does "not bode well" for advocates of abortion rights, Sieck said.

"I feel very scared that these justices are looking at this case through a perspective that's not reflective of this pro-choice nation," she said.

The sun sets at the U.S. Supreme Court building the week that the court is expected to hear arguments in a Mississippi case that challenges Roe v. Wade in Washington, U.S., November 29, 2021. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

Anti-abortion activists who will be rallying outside the Supreme Court on Wednesday are also expecting the justices to limit abortion access.

"The fact that four justices decided to even hear the case tells you that they want to do something about abortion and Roe v. Wade, whether that means a full overturn or some kind of degrading of it," said Mark Harrington, the president of anti-abortion group Created Equal.

Harrington said more than 100 anti-abortion rallies would take place on Wednesday at statehouses, courthouses and other government buildings around the country to start pushing states to outlaw abortions if the justices' final ruling enables states to do so.

"It's a way of mobilizing people not just for the oral arguments but for what we're hoping will happen, which is the overturning of Roe," Harrington said.

(Reporting by Julia Harte; Editing by Stephen Coates)

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