Hundreds of pro-abortion protesters chanted and waved banners in front of the White House on Saturday, demanding that the president take stronger measures to restore access to the procedure that the Supreme Court recently revoked.
The estimated 1,000-person crowd, composed primarily of women, chanted slogans such as “My body, my choice” and sat on the sidewalk in the pouring rain while police stood by.
President Joe Biden spent the weekend at his vacation home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, a few hours away. Demonstrators demanded that he do more to combat the June 24 Supreme Court ruling that overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which had protected the right to abortion in the United States.
Becca, 37, who travelled more than two hours to Washington from Virginia, said, “Stand up, Joe Biden.” She was carrying a banner that read, “Abortion on demand, no apologies.”
She stated that the executive order signed by Vice President Joe Biden on Friday to help women obtain abortion pills and travel to states where abortions are still legal was insufficient.
“Mend this! This executive order he issued was insufficient “Becca declined to provide her last name.
“I desire a world unlike the one in which my grandmother was forced to live. My mother has already fought in the streets for this. We shouldn’t be required to be here “She continued.
Christine, accompanied by her three daughters, one in her 20s and the other two in their teens, also attended the rally.
Christine, age 50, stated, “We believe he must utilize the full extent of his executive branch authority to ensure that women retain their rights, including their reproductive rights.”
Christine, who declined to give her last name, added, “And I am here to ensure that my daughters do not have to go back in time fifty years to a time when abortions were performed in back alleys.”
Since the court ruling, Biden has been criticized for his perceived inaction on the issue, given his limited room for maneuver.
As he signed the executive order Friday, he called on Americans to vote en masse and elect pro-choice lawmakers in November and give him firm control of Congress, so he can codify abortion rights into federal law and bypass the Supreme Court ruling.