Cori Bush among lawmakers arrested during abortion rights protest in DC
Several members of Congress — all Democrats and including Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri — were arrested on Tuesday, July 19, during a protest in support of abortion rights on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
In a Tweet, U.S. Capitol Police said they arrested 34 people, including 16 members of Congress, because demonstrators were blocking traffic near the area.
“We have already given our standard three warnings,” police said. “Some of the demonstrators are refusing to get out of the street, so we are starting to make arrests.”
Protesters were wearing specially-made green bandanas printed with the words “Won’t Back Down,” CNN reported. They marched from the Capitol to the Supreme Court, but were told to “cease and desist” by police within minutes of arriving, the outlet reported.
The protest was organized by CPD Action, an affiliate of the Center for Popular Democracy, the Detroit Free Press reported. The office of Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, who was among the lawmakers arrested, told the outlet that the members who were arrested were led away from the protest by Capitol Police and kept in a holding area outside the Capitol.
The office of Rep. Andy Levin, another Michigan Democrat, told the Free Press that the congressman’s charge sheet said he was arrested for the misdemeanor of “crowding, obstructing or incommoding,” the outlet reported.
The demonstration took place several weeks after the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, a landmark ruling from 1973 that established that banning abortion violated an American’s constitutional right to privacy. The right to an abortion was protected until “approximately the end of the first trimester” of pregnancy, the court ruled.
The ruling was overturned on June 24, sparking national outcry and throwing abortion rights into limbo as each state moved to enforce its own policies on the procedure.
The complete list of lawmakers arrested, according to Axios and posts from their offices on social media, includes:
Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.)
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.)
Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.)
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)
Rep. Andy Levin (D-Mich.)
It’s expected that the lawmakers will be released and fined, Axios reported.
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