Looking live as protesters continue
to gather outside the Supreme Court.
After that 5 four decision from
justices to overturn Roe versus Wade.
The landmark ruling that established the
constitutional right to an abortion.
Thank you for being here with
us on this Friday night.
I'm Lorenzo hall.
Clearly this is an emotional night no
matter where you stand on this decision,
our team is covering every
possible angle with context.
Our Scott Bruman Abby Lyrico
are talking with people on both
sides of this issue tonight,
but I want to start with our Bruce Leshan.
He's here to break down that ruling for us.
Hey Bruce, hey
Lorenzo. Republicans have spent
decades building a Supreme Court
majority willing to throw out
what had been a constitutional
right for half a century.
Today, they succeeded.
Cheers and jeers and 21 and I'm terrified.
Illegitimate as Americans
reacted to a judicial earthquake
that could shake our politics.
Impact 10s of millions of women
and lead to almost total bans on
abortion in nearly half the states,
13 have trigger laws that
can take effect immediately.
What about what about the mother's
dying? It's a late term abortion.
Justice Alito wrote the opinion.
Joined by Justice Thomas and three
Trump appointed Justices, Gorsuch,
Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett.
The Chief Justice tried to carve
out a middle ground and the three
Liberals fiercely dissented.
Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,
wrote Alito.
Its reasoning was exceptionally
weak and the decision has had
damaging consequences and far
from bringing about a national
settlement of the abortion issue.
Roe and Casey.
Have inflamed debate and deepen division.
It is time to heed the Constitution
and return the issue of abortion to
the people's elected representatives.
This decision. The Conservative
majority of the Supreme Court shows how
extreme it is. How far removed
they are from the majority
of this country. This
decision must not be
the final word,
the three liberal justices say
the decision has upset a delicate
balance that stood for 50 years.
It says that from the very
moment of fertilization,
a woman has no rights to speak of.
A state can force her to bring
a pregnancy to term even at the
steepest personal and familial cost.
What this means to women is such an insult.
Democrats will try to enshrine
the rights in Roe in legislation,
but if Republicans take control of
Congress in the midterms, they may
well push for a national abortion ban.
Our work is far from done.
Already in Virginia,
Governor Younkins administration
is talking about a ban on abortions
after 15 weeks and about 20 states
are now considering bans or
restrictions on abortion pills,
which are currently used in
about half of all abortions.
President Biden slammed what
he called extremist governors
trying to check the mail or look
in people's medicine cabinets.
The president directed Health and
Human services to ensure medication
abortion drugs are available to the fullest.
Extent possible.
Lorenzo
yeah. Seems like everyone's trying to process
this ruling and make adjustments immediately.
Alright, Bruce, thank you so much. Alright,
take a look at this map with me here.
Today's ruling is expected to lead to
abortion bans in roughly half of the country.
13 of those states you see right there,
have so-called trigger laws,
which means all or nearly all abortions
in those states are banned as of now,
or will be shortly because
Roe was overturned.
Now let's go back live to the
Supreme Court right now,
where Scott Broom is there talking
with people who are against abortions.
And Scott. They are clearly celebrating,
but this isn't the end for them either.
No, it's not the end for them,
and that cloud is largely moved on
because the crowd I'm in right now in
front of the Supreme Court is very
much dominated by very disappointed
and angry pro choice demonstrators.
There's a lot of anger, emotion,
and there's some profanity,
so we apologize for that in advance.
On the other side of this,
one of the larger groups that
gathered to celebrate the decision
decided they were badly outnumbered.
So rather than engaging in shouting
matches here in front of the Supreme Court,
they decided to go on the road.
Essentially and
take take it take themselves
to the stage of March.
That group is studentsforlife.org.
They snaked around 3rd St
behind the court and eventually
ended up over at Union Station.
Here is what organizer Titus
folks told me about that. We
hired security for the first time.
We've been doing these rallies for years,
but we had 10 security guards with us
this entire time and we hired
them all events going forward.
When we're doing
Protestant state capitals, we're
bringing security guards cause we've
had staff members and students
assaulted in the last couple of months.
Stop, stop, stop.
Why don't you stop?
She's literally.
Be there we witness.
You can see there witness
some tense moments between groups today,
but we didn't see any of violence
and US Capitol police are here and
forced to keep it that way now.
Anti abortion rights.
Protesters who stayed here told
us the Supreme Court decision
is quote a victory for morality
and jurisprudence.
The activists among them are now saying
they are preparing for protests and
demonstrations across the country.
As this debate moves to state capitals and
state legislatures all across the company.
Country so in their mind and the
minds of folks here are who are
in support of the right to choose.
All of them are now beginning to
focus on individual states where
the debate is now open and they're
going to be staging very similar
protests in place like places
like that across the country,
reporting live in front of the Supreme Court.
Scott Broom, W USA.
Now we're
going to be seeing more of this.
Scott, thank you so much.
I want to bring in our
ambrico now she's talking to people
who support abortion rights and Abby
what are they telling you tonight?
Well, so they are not trying
to go home without a fight
and if they do, they're planning to
bring that fight with them because they
say just because this ruling was issued
today does not mean this case is settled
does not mean that this fight is over.
For them, in one way or another,
they're going to keep this moving
here outside the Supreme Court.
In fact, the crowds have only
grown throughout the day,
though, as Scott mentions,
what started as a relatively
mixed group has been.
It just it. It breaks my heart.
I mean, I grew up like I said,
six blocks from the Capitol,
and I spent my childhood going
here on field trips and feeling
like this was the change for good.
And This is why we can
move forward and evolve.
And all of a sudden it just
feels like what what happened.
This is not the world I want
my daughter to grow up in.
It's about just being there for each other.
And just like letting them cry
and letting the emotions flow.
And then after just being ready for actions.
Throughout today we've
talked to Hill interns.
We've talked to tourists,
people who are local faith leaders,
even all of whom say the most
important thing for them.
Alright, that was our ambula Rico reporting
there from outside of the Supreme Court.
Abby, thank you so much and you know
political leaders all across our region are
speaking out on the Supreme Court's decision.
Today, DC's Mayor Muriel Bowser tweeted quote
Washington DC is a proud pro choice city
and access to abortion is still legal here.
This is about health care.
This is about women's rights.
This is about bodily autonomy.
A majority of Americans believe
in a woman's right to choose.
This fight is urgent, but not over now.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan is in
Europe on an economic development mission
and today he released this statement.
Today's court rulings.
In 1992, Maryland voters approved
a constitutional referendum,
legalizing and protecting access to
abortion as a matter of state law.
That measure remains in effect
today following the Supreme Court
decision in Dodd's versus Jackson.
Now I swore an oath to uphold the
Constitution and the laws of Maryland,
and that is what I have always done and
will continue to do as governor now.
As for Virginia,
let's go live now to our Colby
Satterfield in Arlington.
She has reaction from state lawmakers
and Governor Glenn Youngkin and
the difference here in Virginia.
Will be is they're talking about making
some changes, or at least trying to.
Lorenzo, yes they are and there
are vastly different discussions
happening on both sides of the aisle.
Today. Governor Glenn Youngkin is
seeking a 15 week abortion ban.
Why Democrats are saying that
Virginia is still a safe haven and
the Democratic caucus still has
the votes to strike down any single
proposal relating to such in committee.
Today's decision does not change
the law in Virginia.
However, Governor Duncan says
he's already asking several state
senators and delegates to draft
legislation for when the General
Assembly returns in January.
Saying in a statement quote the
Supreme Court of the United States
has rightfully returned power
to the people and their elected
representatives in the states.
I'm proud to be a pro life governor
and plan to take every action
I can to protect life.
The truth is,
Virginians want fewer abortions,
not more abortions.
The governor also adding in a statement.
Virginians want fewer abortions.
State Senator Scott Surville disagrees,
calling today's Supreme Court
decision radical and saying the
country is entering dangerous waters.
To the extent there's any good news out of
this is that this doesn't change the law.
In Virginia, the law in Virginia women
will still have the the ability to to
make their own decisions and their own
choices when it comes to this issue,
and so. I do think though,
you're gonna you're gonna see a lot
more people coming into Virginia to
have abortion procedures because of
where Virginia is positioned regionally.
State Senator Servel is also highlighting
the importance of the 2023 election,
saying that abortion rights could
take center stage live in Arlington.
Colby Satterfield W USA 9
alright. This is certainly a political
issue. Colby, thank you so much.