On Tuesday afternoon (3), hundreds of people went to the front of the Supreme Court to protest against the possible end of the legalization of abortion in the country. Still stunned by the news that the justice system could overturn this right entirely, protesters were calling for measures to try to keep abortion free, such as increasing the number of judges in the court and thus nullifying the current conservative majority.
In the protest, several women raised wire hangers. “They symbolize the way abortions were done before release, and that’s the direction we’re going if that right is taken away,” said Marcy Marquuis, 57, who carried several of them.
The ends of the hangers were a tool used by women who wanted to try to terminate a pregnancy but did not have access to medical support to do so. The act can bring serious complications and risks.
“It’s going to get dangerous now, being pregnant and not knowing you are,” said Mary Eyrn, 56, one of the protesters who also sported a coat rack. Laws passed in recent months, in states like Texas, prevent abortions within a few weeks of pregnancy, when often the pregnancy has not yet been felt.
Eyrn said he came to protest to try to defend the rights of his daughter-in-law, who is Colombian. “She already has one child, and I want her to be able to have a choice about having others or not.”
An early version of a Supreme Court decision, revealed Monday night by Politico, showed that judges are considering overturning altogether the so-called Roe v Wade decision, which legalized abortion in the US in 1973. however, it has not yet been officially taken by the court. This should take place by July.
Shortly after the news broke, still on Monday night, protesters went to protest in front of the Supreme Court. On Tuesday afternoon, there were a few hundred protesters who defended the woman’s right to choose, and about ten who defended the veto of abortion.
Pro-choice activists have given speeches calling for an increase in Supreme Court justices. “They want us to be hopeless, they want us to be sad. But that’s not going to happen, because we have a plan. Pass a law [no Congresso] to guarantee the right to abortion is not enough. It’s enough to have more seats,” said Maya Patel, one of the activists who spoke.
With the creation of four more seats, President Joe Biden will nominate more justices and thus eliminate the current Conservative majority in the court, from 6 to 3.
The measure was endorsed by Democratic Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts. In a speech to activists outside the Supreme Court, he argued that the measure would compensate for what he considers two seats stolen by Republicans. He called the Supreme Court’s current situation an “illegitimate majority”.
In 2016, the opposition blocked Barack Obama from appointing a new judge, just before the presidential election. In 2020, he did the opposite: he sped up procedures so President Donald Trump could make a nomination months before his term ends.
“Expanding the Supreme Court is not simply a principled position. It is a practical necessity. The extremist right wing will not stop, and neither will we. Congress has done it before and must do it again now,” he defended. “Are you ready to fight?”
However, increasing the number of seats on the Court also requires ending the so-called filibuster rule, which allows the minority party to stop measures that do not have 60% support in the Senate.
Currently, the House has 50 senators from each party, which allows Republicans to block the advance of measures in the interest of Democrats. The point is that if the rule is abolished, the Democrats themselves could lose that veto power, if they are a minority in the future.
Activists heard by Sheet said they were surprised by the news that abortion could be banned altogether and that they are not sure what to expect in the future. “I never thought that the right to abortion could go away. And the idea of ​​having more judges could become a reality, but I think it will take a long time”, evaluates Eyrn, who defends the right to abortion.
“I was really shocked. I didn’t expect a change to come in this regard,” commented Jonathan Darnell, 40, who was opposed to the termination of the pregnancy, who held a sign with a huge picture of a six-week-old fetus.
Darnell believes that the future scenario, if Roe x Wade is actually overthrown, will be one of confusion, with part of the states allowing abortion and part of them vetoing it. “If you commit a crime in one state, you have to be extradited to your state, but I don’t think that’s going to happen in this case. That sort of thing precipitated our civil war. I don’t know what will happen.”
