Lawmakers in Arizona, one of eight states where abortion clinics stopped performing procedures after the court’s decision, say they were effectively being held hostage inside
Pro-choice activists have been tear gassed after breaching Arizona’s Capitol building in light of Roe vs Wade being overturned.
The campaigners were dispersed by riot police as tempers flared following the controversial decision by the US Supreme Court.
Lawmakers in Arizona, one of eight states where abortion clinics stopped performing procedures after the court’s decision on Friday, say they were effectively being held hostage inside the Capitol building.
The SWAT team worked quickly to move the swathes of crowds that had gathered outside in protest.
Officers opened fire with tear gas when numerous protesters began banging on glass doors of the building, KPHO-TV reports.
It’s currently unclear if anyone was injured or arrested, the MailOnline says.
A video shared by Republican Senator Wendy Rogers shows the officers opening fire at the crowd, many of whom were carrying placards.
The footage, watched over 1.5m times, depicts chaos as distressed protestors scream as they attempt to flee the area.
Democratic Senator Martin Quezada said lawmakers were sent into the basement of the Capitol building for around 20 minutes.
The nationwide protests came after the Supreme Court ended constitutional protections for abortion that have been in place for nearly 50 years by overturning the landmark Roe vs Wade ruling.
It is expected to lead to abortion bans in roughly half of US states.
In January 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy was a private matter and protected by the US constitution.
A few years earlier, a 25-year-old single woman, Norma McCorvey using the name “Jane Roe”, challenged the criminal abortion laws in Texas. She successfully challenged Henry Wade, who was the district attorney for Dallas County.
Riot cops fired tear gas to disperse the angry crowd
The crowd could be heard screaming
At the time, abortion was illegal in Texas unless it was done to save the mother’s life.
It was a crime to get an abortion or to attempt one in 30 of the 50 states, while abortion was somewhat legal in just four states and allowed under limited circumstances in 16 others.
However, the US Supreme Court has now overturned Roe v Wade, allowing individual states to ban it.
Justice Alito, in the final opinion issued on Friday, said that Roe and Planned Parenthood v Casey, the 1992 decision that reaffirmed the right to abortion, was wrong the day it was decided and must be overturned.
President Joe Biden said “it’s a sad day for the court and the country” as pro-choice demonstrators urged his administration to try and overturn the ruling.
After the decision, Arizona’s Republican Governor Doug Ducey insisted that a bill he previously passed, which bans abortions after 15 weeks, still stands, but this can only be settled in the state’s courts.
Some hardline Republicans are already suggesting the original ban on all terminations should remain in place.
After the ruling, at least 25 people were arrested after demonstrations in New York, while other arrests were also made in Los Angeles.
According to the LA Times, authorities declared an unlawful assembly just after 9 pm, meaning protesters had to leave or be put under arrest as thousands protested in Southern California.
* Article from: mirror.co.uk
