Protests Planned Across Bay Area After SCOTUS Overturns Roe V. Wade

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — People dismayed by the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a 1973 decision that legalized abortion in the United States, have organized protests around the Bay Area on Friday.

• San Francisco Protest: A rush-hour rally and march was planned for 5 p.m. at the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco, according to a release from Reproductive Justice, a group of several organizations, including Glide Memorial Church, and Raging Grannies Action League.
• Oakland Protest: In Oakland, Bans Off Our Bodies planned a protest in Frank Ogawa Plaza at 5 p.m.
• San Leandro Protest: In San Leandro, protesters plan to gather in Root Park at 4 p.m.
• Napa Protest: In Napa, a protest was planned for 4 p.m. at Napa County Superior Court, 825 Brown St.
• San Rafael Protest: In San Rafael, protesters will gather at 5 p.m. in the grassy area next to the Civic Center Post Office at 2 Civic Center Drive.
• San Mateo Protest: In San Mateo, protesters planned to meet at 4:30 p.m. at the San Mateo Central Park stage.
• San Jose Protest: In the South Bay, several elected leaders and community officials planned a gathering at 11 a.m. in front of the Robert Peckham Federal Building to announce plans on how to move forward after the court's decision.
• San Francisco Protest: Roe. v Wade Overturned: Protest to Protect the Right to Choose, 4 p.m. at the Ferry Building
• San Francisco Protest: Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade: Time to Take to the Streets, 5 p.m. at Powell and Market streets
• San Francisco Protest: Reproductive Justice Defenders Hit the Streets in San Francisco and Across Country, 5 p.m. at the Phillip Burton Federal Building (450 Golden Gate Ave.).
• Saturday Protest in Hayward: Rep. Eric Swalwell will speak at the rally at Planned Parenthood, 1032 A Street in Hayward.
• More protests were expected to be organized.

Patch will add to this list of events as we learn more. Please check back for updates.

Reaction to the decision was swift.

"This decision is devastating to women and our country," San Francisco Mayor London Breed said. "The ramifications from this Supreme Court ruling on public health, poverty, and so many downstream consequences have yet to be seen, but right now, women are scared about what this means for them, for their daughters, for all of us."

Breed said the city was taking steps to prepare for fallout from the ruling. San Francisco's Department of the Status of Women will be ready for an influx of people traveling from out of state, Breed said.

Kimberly Ellis, director of the department, said, "It took 40 years for conservatives to plot and scheme the rollback of women's bodily autonomy and we must have the same unbending and resolute commitment to undoing this new world of forced birth, even if it takes us another 40 years to get there. We will never give up."

RELATED: Roe V. Wade Overturned: What It Means In CA

The court's 6-3 decision was expected in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, a repudiation of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and a subsequent case on fetal viability, Planned Parenthood v. Casey. In May, Justice Samuel Alito Jr.'s majority opinion draft was leaked to Politico, setting the stage for a seismic shift in abortion rights.

The court's three liberal justices — Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan — dissented in what was the most anticipated decision of the court's current term after the leaked opinion draft. They criticized what they called the majority's "cavalier approach to overturning this Court's precedents."

The implications of the ruling were immediate. Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt said he was acting immediately to enforce a state law banning abortion except in "cases of medical emergency." His state was one of 13 with trigger provisions that take effect immediately.

At least 26 states are certain or likely to make it nearly impossible for a woman to get a procedure that was legal for their mother, grandmother or even great-grandmother, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

With the decision, abortion would be illegal or a nearly impossible procedure to get in about half of U.S. states, including large swaths of the South, Midwest and Northern Plains.

"Whatever the exact scope of the coming laws," the dissenters wrote, "one result of today's decision is certain: the curtailment of women's rights, and of their status as free and equal citizens."

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said the watershed ruling is "a slap in the face of women" that puts abortion on the ballot in the November midterm elections.

— Patch Staffers Beth Dalbey and Bea Karnes and Bay City News Service contributed to this report