City Hall Drips With Fake Blood — Abortion Protests Continue In LA

LOS ANGELES, CA — Four pro-choice activists were arrested after chaining themselves to Los Angeles City Hall and dripping fake blood down the steps leading to the city's halls of power as abortion rights protesters organized throughout Los Angeles for the second straight week.

Los Angeles and the country have seen pro-choice protests nearly every day since the decision on June 24 to overturn the Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that protected abortion rights in all 50 states. Following protests in Westlake, Venice, Hollywood, Downtown LA and Long Beach, more demonstrations are planned including a Women's Rights Beach March in Santa Monica Sunday, a demonstration in Hollywood on Saturday and a demonstration in Long Beach on Thursday.

Tuesday's arrests of activists with Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights outside City Hall has done little to stem the tide of protests. The four people were arrested on suspicion of failure to disperse and trespassing, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

"I think everyone's really angry," said Devynne Lauchner, who started working with Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights about a month ago. "What I've been hearing from people is that they're mad. They're mad that they don't have control over what happens not only to their body but their life. Really people, aside from being really sad, are really mad. That's definitely the general consensus for people and why they are showing up."

Protests in the greater Los Angeles area have numbered in the thousands, including a massive protest in Downtown Los Angeles on June 24.

Over the last weekend, demonstrators took to the intersection Hollywood and Highland with signs and chants. Protesters marched through Downtown Los Angeles and stopped in front of a crowded Grand Central Market. Protests in Westlake and Venice were specifically scheduled for the 4th of July as organizers called for zero spending to boycott the holiday.

"We can't celebrate Independence Day without bodily autonomy," the Women's March Foundation, Los Angeles wrote on Instagram. "We will celebrate the 4th of July when the country does this: codify Roe v. Wade, abolish the filibuster, expand the court."

Some 61 percent of Americans believed abortion should be legal in all or most circumstances, according to the Pew Research Center.

Thirty-seven percent of Americans believed abortion should be illegal in all or most circumstances. The results were based on multiple surveys conducted before the draft opinion was leaked including over 10,000 American adults.

Learn more about Pew Research Center's methodology here.

"We can't just be complacent because we are in a city and state where abortion is safe for now," Communications Director for the Democratic Socialists of America Los Angeles Chapter Lori Dajose told ABC 7.

For her part, Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights' Lauchner believes the ongoing protests are a vital part of the fight to protect reproductive freedom.

"People have the power, that's what I believe," she said. "That's what we know from history."