17 Members of Congress Arrested During Abortion Rights Protest Outside the Supreme Court

At least 35 people were reportedly arrested Tuesday during a peaceful protest for reproductive rights held outside of the Supreme Court, and about half of those are members of the U.S. Congress.

Those detained seem to be primarily members of the Democratic Women’s Caucus, who gathered to protest the recent disastrous Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v Casey, robbing half of the country of their right to reproductive freedom. The protest was a nonviolent act of civil disobedience but arrests were made, according to the Capitol police, for “Crowding, Obstructing or Incommoding,” which is an antiquated synonym for “inconveniencing”—literally a necessary element of effective protest. Absolutely nothing has ever been achieved through “convenient” protest.

The list of those members of Congress arrested includes Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Katherine Clark (who is the Democratic assistant speaker of the House), Jackie Speier, Carolyn B. Maloney, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Andy Levin, Sara Jacobs, Nydia Velázquez, Barbara Lee, Veronica Escobar, Cori Bush, Jan Schakowsky, Madeleine Dean, Bonnie Watson-Coleman, and Alma Adams.

Pressley’s press secretary tweeted a video of the congresswoman being escorted away while carrying a sign reading “My Body, My Choice.”

Rep Clark tweeted: “The extremist Republicans are determined to take us back in time and take away our rights. They can arrest me, but we won’t allow them to arrest freedom.”

(via CBS News, image: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Have a tip we should know? tips@themarysue.com

Author

Close

Vivian Kane

Vivian Kane (she/her) is the Senior News Editor at The Mary Sue, where she's been writing about politics and entertainment (and all the ways in which the two overlap) since the dark days of late 2016. Born in San Francisco and radicalized in Los Angeles, she now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she gets to put her MFA to use covering the local theatre scene. She is the co-owner of The Pitch, Kansas City’s alt news and culture magazine, alongside her husband, Brock Wilbur, with whom she also shares many cats.

twitter