#Police #arrest #lawmakers #protest #abortion #rights #Supreme #Court
At least 17 Democratic lawmakers, including prominent progressives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar, were arrested Tuesday at an abortion rights protest outside the Supreme Court in Washington, police said.
U.S. Capitol Police said on Twitter that protesters blocked traffic on a nearby road and received three warnings before officers made the arrests.
“We made a total of 35 arrests for crowds, disability or discrimination,” police said. “This arrest number includes 17 members of Congress.”
The small demonstration came three weeks after a controversial Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade’s 1973 law that guaranteed women’s access to abortion.
“Today I was arrested while attending a civil disobedience act in front of the Supreme Court with my fellow congressmen,” Minnesota Representative Omar said on Twitter.
“I will continue to do everything in my power to raise the alarm about the attack on our reproductive rights!” she tweeted.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York was also arrested and issued a statement saying, “There is no democracy unless women have control over their own bodies and decisions about their own health, including reproductive care.”
“The Republican Party and the far-right behind this decision are not for life, but for control of the bodies of women, girls and anyone who can become pregnant.”
Footage from the protest showed Ocasio-Cortez, Omar and others being led away, not in handcuffs, and waving to supporters.
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