On Monday, a leaked Supreme Court draft majority opinion obtained by Politico showed that the court has voted to overturn Roe v. Wade. Within hours of the report’s publication and into the following morning, activists from both sides of the abortion debate began protesting outside the Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.
The Daily Beast reporter Ursula Perano tweeted video of what she described as “competing protests” near the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning.
“Competing protests growing outside SCOTUS rn. Anti-abortion folks yelling ‘abortion is violence.’ Pro-abortion side responding, ‘Cite your sources,’” Perano tweeted.
Reporter Kellan Howell also tweeted footage of protesters Tuesday morning.
“Some anti-abortion demonstrators have showed up now. Still relatively quiet compared to last night but more protests are expected later today. Follow @Newsy for updates,” Howell wrote.
In the leaked draft opinion, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.”
“We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” he continued. “It is time to heed the Constitution and return the issue of abortion to the people’s elected representatives.”
Emily Jashinsky, cultural editor for The Federalist, posted video online of one protester encouraging others to “f—king…scream” in response to the leaked opinion late Monday night.
“‘If you feel like f-cking screaming, scream.’ Small protest against the leaked Roe opinion outside #SCOTUS,” she tweeted.
Elsewhere, Catholic University students quietly gathered to pray the Rosary in support of the decision while pro-abortion activists shouted and waved signs in their faces.
“Catholic University students quietly praying the rosary. Angry protestors scream in the background,” Daily Signal producer Douglas Blair tweeted.
Another Twitter user called “station_zzz” posted video of a large group of protesters that the user wrote was taken around 1 a.m. outside of the Supreme Court.
“Some video of Supreme Court protest – taken about 1am – not mine, eyes on ground). Big crowd. Very small group of anti-abortion protesters scuffle occasionally, but crowd tries to diffuse conflict when it comes up. #SupremeCourt,” the user tweeted.
Ice Analytics shared video showing police outside the Supreme Court building after fences were erected in the wake of the leaked Supreme Court draft decision.
“A leaked draft to overturn Roe v Wade in the #SupremeCourt released by @politico has led to protests outside the Supreme Court after fences were erected. If this draft goes into effect it could lead to the federal legalization of abortion to be overturned,” the user tweeted.
A second video from Ice Analytics showed a fight that is believed to be between a pro-life protester and a protester who supports abortion.
“A small fight broke out between presumably between a supporter of the draft and a pro-choice supporter. No arrests have been made in front of the #SupremeCourt as of yet. Other than this, the protest has been overwhelmingly peaceful,” the tweet said.
Another video shows a pro-life protester responding to a demonstrator who is yelling about her objections to the Supreme Court’s leaked decision.
“Cope and seethe, ma’am, cope and seethe. You lost, baby killer! Woo!” the protester yells.
