Picture Credit: N. Kelsey

On Saturday, October 2, thousands of demonstrators gathered in Washington D.C. to march in front of the Supreme Court building in support of abortion rights. Many similar demonstrations occurred in cities across the country this past weekend.  

These protests were organized as the Supreme Court begins its new term. In this term, they will decide on the constitutionality of state abortion laws. For example in September, Texas enacted a law banning abortions after 6 weeks of pregnancy. This makes it almost impossible to get an abortion given that most women do not know they are pregnant until 6 or more weeks into their pregnancy.  

Georgia, Mississippi, Kentucky and Ohio also have laws that prohibit abortion once a fetus’ heartbeat can be detected. These state laws make abortion illegal much earlier than 24 weeks, which has been the law since the U.S. Supreme Court in the famous case Roe v. Wade.