Pro-Choice protesters face off with extreme right, theocrats as SCOTUS hears abortion case

Video-some of the most unsavory of the antichoice elements, including a hate group member with a Confederate flag glove 1 min 11 sec

On Dec 1, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the Missisippi abortion law case. It is widely suspected that with Trump's "justices" on the court, this case will bring a destablizing end to Roe vs Wade. Outside, "warriors for Christ" and the "official street preachers" hate group attempted to disrupt a big pro-choice rally, while Liberty University and other theocrats held their own antichoice rally.

One of the "Official Street Preachers" members or supporters was displaying the Confederate Battle Flag in the form of one of his gloves. This clearly illustrates the overlap between the Fundamentalist/theocrat wing of the GOP and the Trump/white supremacist wing of the same party. A number of the pro-choice rally speakers flatly called out the antiabortion movement for supporting white supremacy as well as misogyny.

Cops attempted (or were told to attempt) to separate the pro and antichoice protesters with a fence across 1st st NE, but the theocrats just walked around it to hassle prochoice protesters while their main rally proceeded undisturbed on the other side of it. An effort by prochoice protesters to return the "favor" would probably have faced an aggressive police response.

As this swirling mess proceeded, one group of pro-choice protesters sucessfully disengaged from the main rally and proceeded to blockade Constitution Ave, resulting in 33 reported arrests. Not long afterwards, most of the Fundamentalist Christians left, leaving the pro-choice rally in possession of the field and for one day at least, the victory. This however may not last, as reports are Trump's judges and the other GOP judges may toss out Roe v Wade entirely.

At another point, several woman took abortion inducing pills right in front of the Supreme Court, reminding everyone that overturning Roe now will set up another useless "war on drugs." Twitter report w video on this part of the action

It is being reported that all 6 GOP judges are open to tossing Roe entirely and are leaning towards upholding Missisippi's 15 week abortion ban. The non-GOP judges by comparison have warned about how destabilizing this could be, with the Court itself on the line. Justice Sonia Sotomayer warned "will the court survive the stench that this creates in the public perception that the Constitution and it's reading are political acts?" Justice Stephen Breyer warns they'd "better be damned sure" before tossing out established decisions on abortion.

Here's how things could play out. If Roe v Wade is thrown out, a cat and mouse game between women lacking the means to travel to other states for abortion and law enforcement in MAGAt states will likely follow. Actual compliance with this kind of law will be as rare as drinking age, pot law, and speed limit compliance. Abortion drugs will be widely distributed online, so one question becomes this: Will police adopt the model used for sting operations against sex workers and their customers to harass buyers and sellers of abortion drugs? Another question is: will police attempt to pull over cars with young women inside near the state lines in an attempt to arrest women for seeking abortion out of state? This was famously invoked in one of Biden's campaign ads against Trump, showing state troopers arresting a mother and daughter for trying to get out of the state for an abortion. Also, will there be still more sting operations against women seeking rides out of state, and/or against drivers providing this service? If so, some of these traffic stops, and some of the raids and sting operations are guaranteed to escalate into violence, same as all other enforcement by armed police.

If police in any state attempt to crack down on underground abortion with arrests, violent protests could ensue and matters could escalate very quickly. This could look a lot like Summer 2020, and with racist cops targetting Black and Brown women in particular this would call many of the same fighters back to the field.

Probably this sort of thing would start with one or more official outrages such as a pregnant woman being shot by police in a state line traffic stop, or a house raid stemming from an online sting escalating into a shooting by police. Protests then quickly escalate as they did in Minneapolis or Kenosha 2020. This would be followed at first by fighting with melee/riot/less lethal weapons as police attempt to quell the protesters and far-right counterprotesters show up. As in 2020, flashbangs and tear gas would be traded for rocks, bottles, fireworks, and laser beams.

A complicating factor though is this: many of the antiabortion states are also open-carry states, raising the specter that some of these street battles could involved armed counterprotesters followed by protesters arming in response and/or armed progressives such as the John Brown Gun Clubs. Once armed fighters from both sides are in the field, it only takes one incident to touch off a battle. A backfiring car mistaken for the sound of a shot could be quite enough. Down that road lies insurgency and civil war. A vote to overturn Roe v Wade is a vote for violent protests, cities on fire, and possibly even a vote for civil war. Even the Washington Post has run an opinon piece saying essentially the same thing. They predict overturning Roe will "tear the US apart."

An antiabortion protesters displays a Confederate flag on his glove outside the Supreme Court

Hidden behind the "Official Street Preachers" and "Warriors for Christ" was this major pro-choice rally that outlasted almost all the theocrats

From the street however, huge signs meant the much smaller far-right hate group was what people could see

RCP/Revolution Clubs also showed up. They have been a fixture of events such as this back to the 1980's

Protesters carrying what appear to be the faces of 9 justices. They later put these away and were part of the civil disobedience

A civil disobedience blocked 1st and Constitution ave, netting 33 arrests

On the same day an Indigenous speaker was scheduled to speak LAST at the Supreme Court rally, pigeons shit on the Columbus statue at nearby Union Station

Note that some of the Fundamentalist were also protesting vaccines, masks etc. Not a single mask to be seen on them, yet they call themselves "pro-life"

"Abortion pills forever!" Women taking pills used for self-managed abortion directly in front of the Supreme Court. You can get these now over the Internet

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