The U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was condemned by abortion rights groups and hailed by abortion opponents in cities across the nation.
Here’s a look at the reactions and demonstrations in several cities, including New York, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Washington, DC and Boston. While most of the rallies were peaceful, some violence was reported, including one incident in which a truck hit at least two protesters.
New York City
Thousands of abortion rights supporters took to the streets of the Big Apple following Friday’s court decision, with police reporting 13 arrests during a march in Manhattan late Friday night, according to a report by the New York Daily News.
“A dozen adults and one teenager were zip-tied and taken into custody near the corner of Sixth Ave. and 42nd St. at 11 p.m. after they sat down in the intersection and began blocking traffic, refusing orders to get out of the street,” the Daily News reported.
Phoenix, Arizona
Police fired tear gas from the windows of the Arizona Capitol building to disperse hundreds of people demonstrating outside, as lawmakers briefly huddled in a basement.
The lawmakers were working to complete their 2022 session as thousands of protesters gathered on the Capitol grounds in Phoenix on Friday night, divided into groups condemning and supporting the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.
SWAT team members with the Department of Public Safety fired tear gas from the building to disperse the protesters. KPHO-TV reported the officers opened fire when several anti-abortion protesters started banging on glass doors of the building.
It wasn’t immediately known if there were injuries or arrests.
The incident sent Senate lawmakers into the basement of the building for about 20 minutes, said Democratic Sen. Martin Quezada. Stinging tear gas wafted through the Capitol afterward, forcing the Senate to move its proceedings to a hearing room instead of the Senate chamber.
Thousands of spirited demonstrators took to the streets Friday in cities nationwide to protest the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Most carried signs, chanted slogans and listened to speeches.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
A truck hit at least two protesters Friday night following an abortion rights rally in Iowa.
Lyz Lenz, a local journalist and author, told The Associated Press that she saw the driver swerve around another car and hit two women on a crosswalk in downtown Cedar Rapids around 7:15 p.m.
She said the truck drove over the foot of one of the protesters, and police took the woman to the hospital.
“There was a moment where I said, ‘I think I’m going to see my friends die,’” said Lenz, who has written about numerous subjects including the white supremacist who drove his car into counterprotesters in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
Lenz said the women struck Friday were chanting disparaging things about Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. She said it was hard to know whether the truck driver was motivated by the chants or being blocked by protesters.
Cedar Rapids police had no immediate comment but planned to release a statement.
Thousands of spirited demonstrators took to the streets in cities nationwide to protest Friday’s Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. Most carried signs, chanted slogans and listened to speeches. In Seattle, hundreds of people blocked a downtown intersection, while in Los Angeles, others briefly walked onto a freeway.
Salt Lake City, Utah
Utah’s abortion ban has gone into effect, triggered by the overturning of Roe v. Wade. The move came Friday evening after the Legislature’s general counsel certified that the state’s 2020 trigger law met legal requirements.
The ban contains narrow exceptions for rape and incest if those crimes are reported to law enforcement, and for serious risk to the life or health of the mother, as well as confirmed lethal birth defects.
Legislative leaders said they had no plans to expand restrictions on abortion until they better understood the effects of Utah’s law.
State Sen. Dan McKay, the Republican who sponsored the trigger law, said it would be wrong for Utah women to pursue abortions in neighboring states but he had no immediate plans to press for limits on their ability to travel there.
Columbus, Ohio
A ban on most abortions at the first detectable fetal heartbeat became the law in Ohio on Friday following the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
Enforcement of Ohio’s 2019 “heartbeat” ban had been on hold for nearly three years under a federal court injunction. The state attorney general, Republican Dave Yost, asked for that to be dissolved because of the high court’s ruling, and a federal judge agreed hours later.
Critics had argued that the measure essentially prohibits abortions because the first detectable fetal heartbeat can occur as early as six weeks into pregnancy, before many women know they are pregnant.
Montgomery, Alabama
Abortions swiftly came to a stop in Alabama as a 2019 state abortion ban took effect making it a felony to perform an abortion at any state of pregnancy, with no exceptions for rape or incest victims.
All three clinics in the state stopped providing services Friday morning after a federal judge granted the state’s request to lift an injunction and allow the state to enforce the ban, after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
The only exception to the state’s abortion ban is for the sake of the mother’s health.
Gov. Kay Ivey praised the Supreme Court decision.
“I could not be more proud as a governor, a Christian and a woman to see this misguided and detrimental decision overturned,” Ivey said. “Alabama will continue standing up for our unborn babies, our mothers and our families.”
Little Rock, Arkansas
The Arkansas Department of Health on Friday notified the state’s two abortion providers that its ban on the procedure had taken effect under a law triggered by the Supreme Court ruling. The law bans abortions except to protect the life of the mother in a medical emergency.
The notices advise the facilities that performing an abortion in violation of the law is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $100,000.
Planned Parenthood said it would no longer be able to offer abortions at its Little Rock facility.
Austin, Texas
Jeffrey Hons of Planned Parenthood South Texas said the group’s abortion services in Texas have been “paused” statewide as they await guidance from their attorneys.
The announcement comes Friday, just hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the right established in Roe v. Wade to terminate a pregnancy. The issue reverts to the states, many of which have taken steps to curtail or ban abortions.
A website affiliated with Planned Parenthood is advising that it is legal to travel out of state to get an abortion.
Washington, D.C.
Mayor Muriel Bowser declared Friday that abortion remains legal in the nation’s capital despite the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.
“We are a pro-choice city,” she said at news conference held at the local branch of Planned Parenthood. “Nothing has changed in Washington, D.C.”
But Bowser cautioned that the district is vulnerable because it is not a state and Congress retains oversight over it.
She pledged to continue fighting “to make sure we remain a safe city for abortion care and a legal city for abortion care.”
Sacramento, California
The Democratic governors of California, Washington and Oregon on Friday vowed to protect reproductive rights and help women who travel to the West Coast seeking abortions following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
The three states issued a joint “multi-state commitment” saying they will work together to defend patients and medical professionals providing reproductive health care.
They also pledged to “protect against judicial and local law enforcement cooperation with out of-state investigations, inquiries, and arrests” regarding abortions performed in their states.
The liberal West Coast states anticipate an influx of people seeking abortions, especially as neighboring conservative states move to outlaw or greatly restrict the procedure.
Santa Fe, New Mexico
A top public prosecutor in New Mexico, where abortion is available with little or no restriction, is urging lawmakers to approve legislation that would protect women who travel to the state for abortion procedures.
Albuquerque-based District Attorney and Democratic nominee for attorney general Raúl Torrez in a statement Friday urged lawmakers to take further steps to protect women and their access to abortions and reproductive health care, including visitors from other states.
Last year, New Mexico state lawmakers repealed a dormant 1969 statute that outlawed most abortion procedures. Democrats who control the New Mexico Legislature support access to abortion, as does the state’s Democratic governor.
Charleston, West Virginia
The only abortion clinic in West Virginia is no longer performing abortions as of Friday.
The state has a law on the books that makes providing abortions a felony carrying three to 10 years of prison time. It’s unclear how the state will proceed on enforcement in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“Roe has never been enough, but in states like West Virginia, it was the only thing protecting abortion access,” said Katie Quinonez, executive director of Women’s Health Center of West Virginia.
She says West Virginians will be forced to travel hundreds or thousands of miles away from home to access health care and that marginalized communities will be hurt the most.
Boston, Massachusetts
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker signed an executive order in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision on abortion that he said is intended to protect access to reproductive health care services in Massachusetts.
The order prohibits state agencies from assisting another state’s investigation into a person or business for receiving or delivering reproductive health services that are legal in Massachusetts. Friday’s outcome is expected to lead to abortion bans in about half the states.
The order also protects Massachusetts providers who deliver reproductive health care services from losing their professional licenses or receiving other professional discipline based on potential out-of-state charges.
Raleigh, North Carolina
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is an abortion rights supporter and this year’s chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. He said Friday, in response to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that sharply limits abortion, that North Carolina women will still be able to obtain reproductive health care in the state.
“For 50 years, women have relied on their constitutional right to make their own medical decisions, but today that right has been tragically ripped away,” Cooper said in a news release.
The North Carolina legislature is controlled by Republicans, but they lack veto-proof majorities should they attempt to pass additional abortion restrictions now. Cooper put out a fundraising appeal Friday citing the decision in urging assistance to prevent the GOP from obtaining veto-proof majorities in November.
Jefferson, Missouri
The state of Missouri is acting quickly to enforce a state law banning abortion in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that effectively limits abortion rights for millions of women.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said he was acting immediately to enforce a state law banning abortion except in “cases of medical emergency.”
The 2019 Missouri law included a trigger provision making effective upon notification by the attorney general that the Supreme Court had overruled Roe v. Wade.
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NJ Advance Media staff writer Len Melisurgo contributed to this report.
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