As Thousands March, LAPD Declares Downtown Abortion Protests Unlawful

LOS ANGELES, CA — Angelenos protested across the city Friday following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that protected abortion rights in all 50 states. By 9 p.m. — after crowds took over freeways and thoroughfares and clashed with police — the Los Angeles Police Department declared the assemblies unlawful.

The Supreme Court's ruling is being described as the most significant curtailing of an established constitutional right in court history. Though California leaders, and the city of Los Angeles, in particular, have staked out positions as sanctuaries for abortion and reproductive rights, the court's decision sent shockwaves across Southern California.

In Los Angeles, Friday morning was the calm before the storm as activists organized protests for the afternoon and evening while police and city officials readied for widespread protests. By Friday night, the Los Angeles Police Department was on citywide tactical alert due to numerous protests across the city along with threats of violence.

Protesters walked onto the northbound side of the Harbor (110) Freeway at Fifth Street in downtown Los Angeles at about 7 p.m., bringing traffic to a halt Friday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Other protesters clashed with police who tried to block them from entering the freeway, the Los Angeles Times reported. Reports of police violence against reporters and onlookers surfaced late Friday evening and throughout the weekend.

In Claremont, more than 100 people took over Foothill Boulevard to protest the Supreme Court's decision, the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin reports.

And hundreds lined the corners of Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Avenue in Hollywood.

The protests started in Los Angeles as early as 12 p.m. Friday. Metal barriers were wrapped around Los Angeles City Hall early Friday in anticipation of the protest.

The demonstrations were expected to peak around 5 p.m., with the Women's March Foundation scheduled to meet at City Hall and Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights meeting at the federal courthouse around the corner. Other groups planned to meet around 5 p.m. at Pershing Square.

Outside the courthouse Friday afternoon, speaker after speaker shared their frustration with the decision and called on their neighbors to take to the streets.

---

"Right now people really need to take a step back and decide what side of history they are going to be on. Are we going to sit back and be compliant and be accomplices to violence while it happens in front of us in real-time? Or is this the time where we decide enough is enough, we are going to stop society we are going to bring it to a grinding halt and we’re going to let them know that we do not accept this," said Becca Waite, a leader with Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights' L.A. chapter. "We know what they're coming for next, we know they are coming for LGBTQIA+ rights. We know that they're coming for your privacy in your own home. We know that they're coming for your due process. And we won’t stand for it."

---

West Hollywood city officials planned a candlelight vigil at West Hollywood Park, followed by a march at 7 p.m. Friday. In Hollywood, protesters planned to meet at 6 p.m. at 6780 Hollywood Blvd. The Fountain Theater planned to have a 20-foot memorial wall tonight for people to leave messages and flowers expressing their frustration with the decision.

Protesters planned to meet in Westlake Village at 5:30 p.m. at the intersection of Westlake Boulevard and Thousand Oaks Boulevard.

Fullerton, Long Beach, Claremont, Irvine Protests

The pro-choice protests were expected to converge with the March for Our Lives protests in the city Friday after the Supreme Court's decision on Thursday to strike down a New York gun law.

March for Our Lives, a youth-led movement that supports gun control, planned a massive protest in Los Angeles earlier in June. March for Our Lives protests were planned in Downtown Los Angeles, Pasadena, Hollywood and El Segundo. See where all the protests are here.

About 2,000 people are at Alton Parkway and Culver Drive in Irvine protesting the Supreme Court's decision to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision, according to a report from the scene.

Massive protests erupted immediately on Friday at the Supreme Court in Washington.

"Roe v. Wade has always been rock bottom. Roe v. Wade has always been below sea level, it’s been the basement of necessity for what women need — it’s never been enough. And now they're telling us that we don’t even deserve that," said Waite, who has been a nurse for 12 years.

The decision striking down abortion rights came just over a month after a draft Supreme Court opinion was leaked indicating Roe v. Wade was in peril. The news, first reported by Politico, prompted sustained protests in Los Angeles and across the country.

SEE ALSO

• Roe V. Wade Overturned: What It Means In CA
• Roe V. Wade Overturned: Abortion Rights Left To States To Decide

The opinion was joined by Justices Clarence Thomas, Neil M. Gorsuch, Brett M. Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. concurred but did not join the majority opinion. He said he would have upheld a Mississippi 15-week ban on abortion but would have not overturned Roe v. Wade.

"The court's decision to overrule Roe and Casey is a serious jolt to the legal system," Roberts wrote.

Justices Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented.

"Today, the court ... says that from the very moment of fertilization, a woman has no rights to speak of," their dissent read. "A state can force her to bring a pregnancy to term, even at the steepest personal and familial costs."

Organizers from Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights had already planned to meet at the U.S. Courthouse, 350 W. First St., regardless of the decision. The organization has staged demonstrations in Los Angeles and across the country in anticipation of the fateful decision, including a massive banner drop at a Dodgers game.

Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights is one of many organizations, including the Women's March Foundation, that organized protests in the greater Los Angeles area. Thousands of protesters took to City Hall on May 14 supporting the right to choose whether to have an abortion.

California Legislation

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.

City News Service contributed to this report.