Congresswoman Cori Bush Joins Abortion Rights Protests Outside SCOTUS

Washington DC—A modest gathering of abortion rights protesters got an unexpected signal boost from U.S. Representative Cori Bush (D-MO) when she joined a protest organized by ShutDownDC outside the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday night. The Congresswoman took over on the bullhorn for a few minutes thanking the activists for their dedication in the fight for women’s healthcare and giving them encouragement to continue their activism.

But it was the double wall of barricades that set the backdrop behind Congresswoman Bush of a Supreme Court that appeared almost under siege ever since last Monday when an unauthorized pre-released opinion authored by Justice Alito spilled into the media. It was the pre-release of his opinion that ignited a surge of angry demonstrations—and the rebirth of a new movement for woman’s healthcare rights—not seen there in many decades.

“We’re not new to this fight,” she said as forced-birth trolls tried to out-shout her on their own bullhorns nearby. “We understand that [these] folks want to control our bodies because they can’t control our minds. But you know what? When abortion rights are under attack, what do we do? Stand up and fight back!” Bush rallied with the pro-choice activists, leading the activists in a series of chants to shut down the trolls nearby who we’re beginning to anger the activists. The activists volleyed nearby by bullhorns with the trolls until police formed a line to separate the groups.

“This is our movement,” she continued. “This isn’t about babies this is about control and that’s one thing they won’t get from us. If it was about babies then these folks wouldn’t have a problem with medicare. There would be no problem with affordable housing. We’d have clean water and clean air. This isn’t about babies this is about control,” she repeated.

The Senate is set to vote on the “Woman’s Health Protection Act” on Wednesday. Passage of this bill would create a Federal mandate which supersedes States’ restrictive laws over women’s rights to abortion. This bill has little chance of gaining the support it needs to pass because of the filibuster, Senator Joe Manchin’s pro-abortion stand, and Senator Kyristen Sinema’s pro-filibuster stand.

The activists then marched to the U.S. Capitol which is across the street from the U.S. Supreme Court. There they met more barricades and police but navigated onto the grass across from the North Wing of the Capitol.

Another speaker decried the expected U.S. Supreme Court overturn of Roe v. Wade because of the loss of autonomy over their bodies and the life and death consequences forced-birth laws would have for many experiencing unwanted or at-risk pregnancies.

The activists were decidedly not going back to a pre-1973 United States when abortions were only accessible through back-room pseodo-doctors resulting in death and infertility for many.

“I’d rather attend a protest than a funeral,” said a 19-year old speaker who said her grandmother encouraged her to go to the protest because she didn’t want to see her granddaughter live in a time she did when abortions were illegal and many suffered permanently from botched procedures. “Abortions are going to continue nevertheless and women are going to die,” she said.

The action comes on the heals of visits by activists and supporters to the suburban homes of several of the Supreme Court Justices who signed in support of the Alito opinion. Police presence has been heavy because of the swelling numbers of participants in the abortion rights movement. Crowd-control barricades with 10-foot metal fencing behind them have rarely been erected around the U.S. Supreme Court pending a high-profile ruling.