Over a Dozen Protesters Arrested in DC

(USNewsBreak.com) – Protestors have the right to assemble peacefully and make their views heard. However, they can run into trouble and face legal consequences when they violate laws. Capitol Police took more than a dozen protestors into custody on Tuesday, March 26, as the Supreme Court heard arguments related to an abortion drug.

While the Justices heard arguments from a group of anti-abortion doctors as to why the Court should restrict the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) approval of mifepristone, hundreds of activists on both sides of the issue took up protests outside the Capitol building. Capitol Police said they warned a group of 13 people — 12 women and one man — that they were illegally blocking walkways and roadways, violating a law prohibiting crowding, obstructing, or incommoding on the US Capitol grounds. Officers told them they would arrest them if they didn’t stay out of the restricted areas.

BREAKING: Capitol Police have arrested 13 protesters who were demonstrating against the Supreme Court's examination of restrictions to the abortion pill mifepristone. https://t.co/uy2SkEbqhb

— ABC News (@ABC) March 26, 2024

None of the 13 complied with the authorities’ instruction, so law enforcement followed through on their threat. According to The New York Times, Rachel O’Leary Carmona, executive director of Women’s March, was one of those detained and said the group planned to risk arrest through civil disobedience to “match the severity of the threat” to women’s reproductive rights. She said the group hoped to send a message to the Supreme Court that “we are going to make sure that people have access to abortion medication when they need it,” regardless of how the Justices rule.

The issue before the High Court in Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine was the expansion of the drug’s use in 2016 and 2021. The Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine is challenging the FDA’s authority to approve the drug for nationwide use and has petitioned the Supreme Court to restrict distribution and place limitations on when doctors can prescribe the medication during pregnancy.

The Justices seemed skeptical that the group of doctors, who don’t prescribe the drug and hardly see abortion patients, have standing to challenge the FDA. The High Court typically issues decisions from cases on its docket sometime in June or July before the court recesses.