Angered by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, people hit the streets again on Sunday for more raucous mass protests against a ruling that almost immediately made access to abortions all but impossible in at least 18 states.
From Washington, D.C., where on Friday the conservatives on the court swept aside a half-century of precedent to do away with the law, to the West Coast, protests broke out.
As several states enacted bans, both supporters and opponents of abortion rights mapped out their next moves.
Key highlights:
- South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, whose state was among several where “trigger" laws were set to take effect after Roe v. Wade was struck down, said her administration would enforce its ban on telemedicine abortions, putting the state on a legal warpath against the federal government.
- Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., called the overturning "a crisis of our democracy” and questioned the legitimacy of the Supreme Court.
- Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, whose state has banned abortions in almost all circumstances, insisted that access to contraception was “not going to be touched.”
- New York City's Pride parade, which typically recalls the marches and riots of the gay rights movement, focused on a celebration of identities and abortion rights. Planned Parenthood helped lead the parade, and while people many waved flags or held signs in support of reproductive rights, many also remarked that the energy of the crowd remained light, hopeful and joyous rather than angry.
Decision is 'soul-crushing,' Arizona mom says
Natacha Chavez took her 8-year-old daughter along to an abortion rights rally outside the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix on Friday night. Ten minutes in, they were met with tear gas.
Chavez, 37, said she took her daughter, Amelia, to the protest to expose her to “how to be better humans” through action. She said she has taken her children to many protests throughout the years.
Arizona law enforcement officials warned the crowd several times to leave the area before the gas was deployed, state Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves said.
However, Chavez said she never heard a warning and was surprised by the tear gas. She then immediately grabbed her daughter by the arm and ran in the opposite direction.
“We were further away, but the gas had traveled and got into most everyone’s eyes, including myself and my daughter,” she said. “Her eyes were burning and stinging.”
Chavez said that when she found out about the Supreme Court ruling Friday she immediately thought about her daughter and other young women.
“It’s very much soul-crushing to know that my daughter and her friends won’t have choices,” Chavez said. “It definitely makes you feel like a second-class citizen.”
Protester in Phoenix captures video of police firing tear gas
A protester at an abortion rights rally in Phoenix on Friday captured video of Arizona law enforcement officials using tear gas to disperse crowds of protesters outside the Arizona State Capitol.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety "shot a ton of canisters at the group I was in, even though we were hundreds of feet away from the capitol building,” said Storm Elexandria Glassheart, 25, who shared footage of the protest on Twitter. “They did not warn us.” She said she also witnessed one woman collapse.
Tear gas was used after a part of a door was broken and after monuments were allegedly vandalized at a nearby plaza, Arizona Department of Public Safety spokesman Bart Graves told NBC News.
Following Friday’s protest, the Arizona Department of Public Safety said in a news release that protesters “attempted to breach the doors of the Arizona Senate and force their way into the building.”
The Phoenix Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Glassheart said she attended the protest because Friday's news about the ruling made her "so scared and angry."
"Living in a state like Arizona I knew that it meant abortions were going to be made inaccessible," she said. "I just don’t have words, honestly. I genuinely hoped, and still do hope, that the reaction would be similar to the one we saw with the Black Lives Matter protests back in 2020: big and loud and messy and all encompassing."
Musicians bash SCOTUS during weekend performances in the U.K.
A handful of musicians used their stage time over the weekend to call out the Supreme Court for banning abortion in the United States.
Olivia Rodrigo, Megan Thee Stallion, Billie Eilish and Phoebe Bridgers, who were all performing in the U.K. this weekend for the five-day Glastonbury Festival, all mentioned Friday's ruling during their performances.
"I'm devastated and terrified ... so many women and so many girls are going to die because of this," Rodrigo said.
She had U.K. artist Lily Allen join her on stage a duet for one of Allen’s most popular songs, which she dedicated to the five justices who voted to overturn the decades-old precedent that established federal abortion rights.
In the middle of her performance on Saturday night, Megan also addressed the decision.
“You know I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t say something about these stupid-ass men,” Megan said.
“And I want to have it on the ... record that the hot boys and the hot girls do not support this bullshit that y’all campaign for,” Megan continued. “My body is my motherf---- choice.” She told the crowd of attendees to repeat the chant, and asked them to raise their middle fingers.
In an Instagram post, Megan also shared resources on where people can donate and how people can take action. “The court has failed us all — but we won’t back down,” she wrote in the Instagram caption.
Eilish told fans in the crowd at her show Friday that it was a "really, really dark day for women in the U.S."
“I’m just going to say that because I can’t bear to think about it any longer," she said, before dedicating her song “Your Power" to everyone affected by the decision.
Bridgers led an anti-Supreme Court chant during her set. “Are there any Americans here?” she asked the crowd. “Who wants to say f–-- the Supreme Court?”
During a Friday night concert in London, Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong said he is “renouncing” his U.S. citizenship after the ruling.
“F--- America,” he told concertgoers. He also called the U.S. a “miserable f---ing excuse for a country” and said he would continue to voice his opinions on the subject.
Jodie Sweetin thrown to ground by police during weekend L.A. protest
"Full House" actor Jodie Sweetin was thrown to the ground by police during an abortion rights protest on a Los Angeles freeway over the weekend, a representative for the actor confirmed.
The incident, which occurred Saturday, was captured on video and circulated on social media. The video appears to show police shoving a woman, dressed in black with a megaphone, to the pavement. Sweetin's publicist confirmed she is the person in the video.
In a statement shared by her publicist, Sweetin said she will "continue fighting for our rights."
“I’m extremely proud of the hundreds of people who showed up yesterday to exercise their First Amendment rights and take immediate action to peacefully protest the giant injustices that have been delivered from our Supreme Court," Sweetin said.
"Our activism will continue until our voices are heard and action is taken. This will not deter us, we will continue fighting for our rights. We are not free until ALL of us are free."
A Los Angeles Police Department representative said the agency is aware of the footage, but declined to comment on Sunday.
Michael Ade, 32, who shot video of the incident, said the confrontation was not necessary.
“I was honestly shocked that the officers shoved her in the forceful manner in which they did because she was actually trying to direct people away from the freeway at that point," Ade said. “I know her personally. She’s a friend and we’ve been in the streets protesting together. I’ve known her to be very vocal about her stances on a lot of issues and obviously this is one that hits close to home to many people. I’m not surprised in the least bit that she’s out on the streets kind of letting her voice be heard.”
Photos: Angry protests and joyful celebrations across the country
Supporters and opponents of abortion rights have hit the streets this weekend following the Supreme Court’s ruling. See more photos here.
Kentucky ACLU plans to sue state over abortion ban
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky is preparing to file a case in state court arguing the state’s constitution includes a right to abortion access.
Abortion was immediately criminalized in Kentucky following Friday’s decision overturning Roe v. Wade due to the state’s so-called trigger law, which was passed in 2019.
Kentucky is one of nine states where abortion is now illegal. A lawsuit seeking a similar outcome was also filed by Planned Parenthood in Utah, where abortion was also criminalized Friday.
The ACLU of Kentucky and its partner organizations will argue the case on behalf of EMW Women’s Surgical Center, an abortion services provider in Louisville. They will ask the court to allow the state's abortion providers to resume offering the procedure "as soon as possible," according to a press release.
In a statement, Jackie McGranahan, policy strategist for the ACLU of Kentucky, said many people in Kentucky will not be able to leave the state to seek abortion services elsewhere.
“We know this reality will disproportionately harm people living at or near the poverty line, Black and Brown Kentuckians, and those without the partner, familial, or job support needed to leave the state,” McGranahan said.
Abortion pill manufacturer 'well prepared' for surge in demand
Danco Laboratories, one of the pharmaceutical companies that manufactures the main pill used for abortions, is “well prepared to respond to any surge in demand” in the wake of Friday’s Supreme Court decision that sparked a number of states to immediately criminalize the procedure.
A Danco spokesperson said the company’s supply of the brand-name drug Mifeprex, which is also called mifepristone, is “plentiful and stable.” The pill is a safe option for people seeking an abortion in the first 10 weeks of a pregnancy.
The pill induces abortion by blocking the hormone progesterone. The pill was first approved by the FDA in 2000.
“We are incredibly disappointed by, and not at all in agreement with the decision SCOTUS made,” the spokesperson said. “Danco remains steadfast in our commitment to assuring that healthcare providers and women have access to Mifeprex as an option for safe and effective early abortion.”
Some researchers have expressed concern that Roe’s reversal will also complicate studies of the pill’s use to treat other diseases.
More than half of U.S. abortions are done using pills, according to survey data from the pro-abortion policy group the Guttmacher Institute.
ACLU taking Florida to court over abortion restrictions
The American Civil Liberties Union and other reproductive health advocates are set to ask a Florida judge on Monday to issue an emergency injunction against a new law that would severely limit abortion.
Florida's House Bill 5, which would take effect Friday and bars abortions beyond 15 weeks of pregnancy except to save the pregnant woman’s life, violates privacy protections as set in the state constitution, according to plaintiffs, which include the ALCU and Planned Parenthood.
"The ban is blatantly unconstitutional under the state constitution," the ACLU of Florida said in a statement.
A rep for the Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody could not be immediately reached for comment on Sunday.
Some Pride attendees express frustration, exhaustion after Roe decision
At the Pride parade in New York City on Sunday some shared how they they felt dejected and exhausted after the Roe v. Wade decision despite years of protests and casting votes in support of progressive values.
A sentiment shared by many was a frustration with a perceived limp response of the Democratic Party and progressive institutions, such as Planned Parenthood, that have historically supported and advocated for abortion rights but have not provided an actionable path forward.
Violet Martinez, 22, said at the parade on Sunday that it kept feeling as though the U.S. would “take a few steps forward and then 10 steps backs” in creating a more inclusive country.
“It feels like we’re just yelling at these higher-ups that are all older people who are in charge and they’re just like, ‘OK, well, you’re not changing my mind,’” she said.
Martinez said she had regularly attended protests to push for progressive values but was now exhausted after the Supreme Court’s decisions regarding not only abortion rights but the open carrying of guns and a weakened version of Miranda rights. As a queer woman of color, she said she felt as if politicians and others hadn’t kept promises made in recent years to protect her and others.
“I want to stay motivated, I want to keep attending marches, keep activating, keep doing everything but there’s only so much energy to keep going out,” she said as colorful parade floats rolled by. “If the world doesn’t want to change with me, why am I going to keep doing it? I want to keep going but I’m so tired.”
Abortion rights supporters protest outside U.S. Embassy in Ireland
Activists marched to the U.S. Embassy in Dublin on Sunday in a show of support for abortion rights.
Kate Foley, 33, an American who has been living in Ireland for 10 years, was among those activists who marched a mile and a half across the Irish capital to protest the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Foley, who attended the protest with a group of American expat friends, said she was inspired to see the diversity of people who participated in the protest.
“We were so surprised to see the numbers of Irish and international people [who came] out to support what many could dismiss as an American issue,” Foley said about the protest, which was organized by ROSA Ireland.
Despite living abroad for a decade, Foley said she still has strong connections to her home country and is scared for her loved ones in the U.S. after the court’s overturning of the 1973 ruling on Friday.
“If such an established law of nearly 50 years can be changed, what’s to say our elected officials can’t do the same — on abortion, or any other human rights issue,” Foley told NBC News via Instagram direct message. “I’ve always been taught to stand up for my beliefs, and I think it’s my responsibility to exercise that right regardless of whether I’m at home or abroad.”
Ireland voted in 2018 to remove a ban on abortion from its constitution. The procedure is now permitted until the 12th week of pregnancy, when the health of the mother is at risk or when the fetus has a congenital defect.
Supreme Court abortion decision casts shadow over Pride marches across U.S.
Pride marches across the United States took on new gravity Sunday as progressives worried that the conservative justices on the Supreme Court who voted to reverse Roe v. Wade could now overrule protections for other rights, including same-sex marriage and same-sex intimacy.
The annual parades and rallies in major cities such as New York and San Francisco came two days after Justice Clarence Thomas, in a concurring opinion to the court’s ruling that tossed out Roe, called on the court to revisit the landmark decisions that established those very rights.
Sunday’s events also took place as the LGBTQ movement reels from recent legislative setbacks, including laws that curb classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act, for example, turned into a national flashpoint.
Poll: Americans, especially women, largely disapprove of Roe decision
Fifty-nine percent of Americans and 67% of women in the U.S disapprove of the Supreme Court’s precedent-shattering decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to a new poll released Sunday by CBS News.
The poll found that 41% of Americans and 33% of women in the U.S approved of the ruling.
Approval levels were divided largely along political lines. Among Democrats, 17% said they approved, while 83% said they disapproved. Among Republicans, 78% said they approved, while 22% said they disapproved. In a sign that the decision could spell trouble for Republican candidates in the midterm elections this fall, 38% of independents said they approved, while 62 percent said they disapproved.
Half of Democrats polled said the decision would make them more likely to vote this fall, while 28 percent of independents said it would. Twenty percent of Republicans said the decision would make them more likely to vote this fall.
More than half (52%) of respondents said the decision marked a step backward for the nation, while 31% said it marked a step forward. Another 17% said it did neither.
Fifty-six percent of respondents said the decision would make the lives of women worse, 16% said it would make the lives of women better and 28% said it would not make a difference.
Overturn of Roe v. Wade could have dire implications for transgender rights
WASHINGTON — Advocates for transgender rights fear the overturn of Roe v. Wade will trigger the loss of civil rights safeguards for their community.
Jude Barnhart, an 18-year-old from Maryland who identifies as transgender and nonbinary, reminded fellow protesters outside the Supreme Court on Sunday that Justice Clarence Thomas has already said rights to marriage equality, contraception and same-sex intimacy should be revisited.
“I was talking to my girlfriend, like, ‘What if we can’t get married?’" said Barnhart. "They’re not going to stop regulating our bodies. They are going to regulate who’s in our beds. They are going to regulate who we marry. They are going to regulate what we can put in our body to prevent ourselves from getting pregnant.”
Planned Parenthood of Utah sues to block state's trigger ban
The Planned Parenthood Association of Utah filed a lawsuit in District Court Saturday seeking to block the state’s trigger law criminalizing abortion in the state.
The suit requests a temporary restraining order on Utah’s trigger law, which was passed by the state Legislature in 2020 and criminalizes abortion at any point in pregnancy. The ban took effect late Friday.
Planned Parenthood argues that the right to an abortion is permitted under the state’s constitution.
More than 50 patients had abortion appointments scheduled at Planned Parenthood for the coming week, the suit says. Doctors who violate the ban could face up to 15 years in prison, fines and the loss of their professional licenses.
According to an NBC News analysis, people seeking abortion services in Utah’s biggest cities must now drive an average of five hours to reach the nearest clinic.
Utah is one of nine states whose so-called trigger laws nearly immediately criminalized abortion Friday, following the Supreme Court decision overturning nearly 50 years of precedent.
“In one terrible moment, Roe v. Wade was overturned, and Utahns’ power to control their own bodies, lives, and personal medical decisions was threatened,” Karrie Galloway, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, said in a statement.
Planned Parenthood helped lead NYC Pride parade
New York City’s Pride parade recalls the marches and riots in which activists fought for gay rights decades ago, echoing some of the protests the country has seen in recent days, but Sunday’s event focused on a celebration of identities and rights gained so far.
Planned Parenthood helped lead the parade, and many waved flags or held signs in support of reproductive rights, but many remarked that the energy of the crowd remained light, hopeful and joyous rather than angry.
Sunny Zalewski, 20, said she drove two and a half hours from Connecticut with a friend to find an extremely supportive crowd.
“It’s really nice to see how many people can agree on one thing, and I haven’t seen any disagreements or violence except one guy yelling about traffic, but that’s New York for you, like, nothing new there,” she said.
Warren, nodding to Roe overturn, repeats calls to expand court, gut filibuster
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Sunday reiterated calls to expand the size of the Supreme Court and end the Senate filibuster, saying that doing both would allow for the restoration of abortion rights for women across the country.
“We need to help the women who are pregnant right now,” Warren said on ABC’s “This Week.” That means Democrats must be “focused like a laser on the election in November” so they can pick up seats in states with competitive races, like Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, where there's candidates “who are willing to protect access to abortion and get rid of the filibuster so we can pass it.”
“John Fetterman, I’m looking at you in Pennsylvania, Mandela Barnes, I’m looking at you in Wisconsin,” Warren said. “We bring them in, then we got the votes, and we can protect every woman no matter where she lives.”
Warren also slammed the Supreme Court’s conservative majority for having "lost legitimacy."
"They have burned whatever legitimacy they still may have,” she said. “They just took the last of it and set a torch to it with the Roe v. Wade opinion. I believe we need to get some confidence back in our court and that means we need more justices on the United States Supreme Court.”
Roe overturn marks a 'crisis of our democracy,' says AOC
The overturn of Roe v. Wade struck at the heart of American democracy and raised questions about the high court's legitimacy, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday.
"But also what I believe that the president and the Democratic Party needs to come to terms with is that this is not just a crisis of Roe, this is a crisis of our democracy," she told NBC's "Meet The Press." "The Supreme Court has dramatically overreached its authority."
The New York Democratic lawmaker cited comments from Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who provided critical votes in the confirmation of justices who proved instrumental in the overturn of Roe, as evidence of what she called the Supreme Court's "crisis of legitimacy."
"We had two conservative senators in the United States Senate, Sen. Manchin and Sen. Collins, come out with a very explosive allegation that these — that several Supreme Court justices misled them ... during their confirmation hearings and in the lead-up to their confirmation. This is a crisis of legitimacy," Ocasio-Cortez said.
"If we allow Supreme Court nominees to lie under oath and secure lifetime appointments to the highest court of the land and then issue, without basis — if you read these opinions, issue without basis rulings that deeply undermine the human and civil rights of the majority of Americans, we must see that through," said Ocasio-Cortez. "There must be consequences for such a deeply destabilizing action and a hostile takeover of our democratic institutions."
Gov. Noem says South Dakota will restrict access to abortion pills
Gov. Kristi Noem, whose state was among several where a "trigger" law was set to take effect after Roe v. Wade was struck down by the Supreme Court, said Sunday that South Dakota would also enforce its ban on telemedicine abortions, putting the state on a legal warpath with the federal government.
Medications that can induce an abortion in pregnant people — so-called abortion pills — are available to many via telehealth and telemedicine appointments. The medications are federally approved and U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Friday that “states may not ban” the drug, mifepristone, which is one of the drugs used in medication abortion, “based on disagreement with the FDA’s expert judgment about its safety and efficacy.”
That is likely to set off a legal battle in states like South Dakota, where trigger laws barred abortion outright and where separate laws are in place applying to telemedicine and telehealth.
In an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Noem, a Republican, was asked how state officials would “stop women from receiving this federally approved medication” and whether officials were “going to actually seize mail.”
Noem responded by referring to the state's bill that bans “telemedicine abortions,” adding that such measures “should be under the supervision of a medical doctor” and that decisions to make such measures legal “are at the state level.”
She also said she would not support creating exceptions in her state’s law for women who become pregnant through rape or incest (the law does not currently include such exceptions). “Having a tragedy or tragic situation happen to someone isn't a reason to have another tragedy occur,” she said.
Noem indicated the state had no current plan to draft legislation that helps women who are now forced to carry their pregnancies to term.
Asked “What exactly are you doing to keep [women] alive during their pregnancy,” Noem replied, “That will be a lot of the debate that will go on now in every different state.”
Arkansas Gov. Hutchinson says contraception ban not on table, despite Thomas opinion
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, whose state has banned abortions in almost all circumstances, insisted Sunday that access to contraception was "not going to be touched."
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, who wrote in a concurring opinion that the court should reconsider other rulings decided on the same legal grounds as Roe v. Wade, including the right to contraception, same-sex marriage and same-sex sexual intimacy.
Hutchinson, a Republican, told NBC's "Meet The Press" that Thomas' opinion on cases other than abortion was not joined by any other justice.
"So this is not about contraception. This is not about same-sex marriage, a very limited decision on this particular issue of abortion," Hutchinson said. "And so in Arkansas, the right to contraception is important. It's recognized. It's not going to be touched."
The governor didn't give a clear answer on his view of Plan B, which works to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex or a contraceptive failure, and whether he considered it a contraceptive, saying, "every state ... will make that determination."
Health and Human Services considering transportation for women in need of abortion
The federal government might offer transportation to women who live in states that ban abortion, Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said Saturday.
"We are looking into everything, including assisting in transportation (to states that allow abortions), something that HHS doesn't typically do," Becerra told a panel at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado.
When the panel moderator, NBC News senior correspondent Kate Snow, asked if this federal intervention would pass legal muster, Becerra said: "Talk to me later.
"I always tell my team at HHS if you've done your homework, then we have no right to do mild," he said. "So we're going to be aggressive and go all the way."
Police announce 10 arrested following unrest in Eugene, Oregon
Protesters took to the streets of Eugene, Oregon, hours after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, leading to the arrests of 10 people, police said Saturday.
Crowds were responding Friday night to a "group publicizing on social media for people to come to a 'Night of Rage,'" and initially met at a family planning clinic blocks away the University of Oregon, Eugene police said in a statement.
Some protesters "threw smoke bombs at officers along with several filled water bottles," and police fired pepper balls into the crowd, officials said.
The 10 arrested were all between the ages of 18 and 29, with eight booked for disorderly conduct, one for harassment and one for disorderly conduct, escape in the third degree and resisting arrest, police said.
Prohibition of abortions a ‘dark move,’ Israel's health minister says
The “prohibition of abortions is a dark move,” Israel's health minister tweeted Saturday.
“Denial of a woman’s right to her body, oppression of women is going back a hundred years,” Nitzan Horowitz wrote.
“This is one of the consequences of the historic mishap named ‘Trump,’” he added, referring to former President Donald Trump.
Abortion is legal in Israel, but women have to seek special permission from a medical committee.
6 arrested at rally in Greenville, South Carolina
Six people were arrested Saturday as protesters from both sides of the divide gathered in Greenville, South Carolina, police said.
Around 400 to 500 people gathered in the downtown area, Greenville Police Department said in a statement.
“Officers separated the opposing sides per our picketing ordinance,” the statement said. “On several occasions, officers had to address people in the roadway and parties from one side trying to go over to another.”
After multiple warnings, one person violating the order to stay apart was arrested, the statement said. After this arrest, other protesters interfered and were arrested as well, according to the statement.
In the end, the rally was deemed “an unlawful assembly,” and officers dispersed both sides, the statement said.
Fire at Colorado Christian pregnancy services center investigated as arson
A fire early Saturday at a Longmont, Colorado, Christian organization that provides pregnancy services is being investigated as arson and the FBI has joined the probe, officials said.
The fire shortly after 3 a.m. at Life Choices, which calls itself a Christ-centered ministry, caused fire and heavy smoke damage, Longmont Public Safety said in a statement.
Photos posted by the department showed a spray-painted message: “if abortions aren’t safe neither are you.”
Life Choices did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its website advertises support for people facing unplanned pregnancies.
The public safety department said Saturday that the FBI hads joined the investigation. The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday night.
The Supreme Court on Friday overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that had guaranteed the right to abortion in the U.S. Abortion is legal in Colorado. State law legalized it in 1967, and earlier this year Democratic Gov. Jared Polis signed a law that codified the right to have an abortion in the state.
Rep. Miller thanks Trump for ‘victory for white life,’ campaign says she misread remarks
U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, an Illinois Republican, immediately drew fierce backlash on social media and elsewhere at a Saturday night rally with former President Donald Trump when she credited him for the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, calling it a “victory for white life.”
But Miller’s campaign said Saturday night that the congresswoman misread prepared remarks at a rally that Trump held for her in Mendon, Illinois.
“You can clearly see she is reading off a piece of paper, she meant to say ‘right to life,’” Miller spokesman Isaiah Wartman said.
Miller later tweeted: “I will always defend the RIGHT TO LIFE!”
Rhode Island officer arrested in alleged assault of Senate opponent at abortion rally
An off-duty Rhode Island police officer who was running for state Senate was arrested on an assault charge after allegedly attacking his female opponent during an abortion rights protest Friday night.
Providence police patrolman Jeann Lugo, 35, was arrested on charges of simple assault and disorderly conduct, state police said Saturday. Lugo turned himself in, was arraigned and released, it said.
Jennifer Rourke, who is running for the state’s 29th District, said she had finished speaking at a rally outside the state house in Providence on Friday when she was attacked by Lugo.