Abortion rights advocates march across U.S. to protest restrictive laws

The latest:

• Hundreds of demonstrations held Saturday across the United States and Canada under the banner "Rally for Abortion Justice."
• Several U.S. states have passed restrictive abortion laws, including Texas which rewards citizens with $10,000 if they sue someone who helps a person obtain an illegal abortion.
• Protesters in Washington, D.C., are heading to the U.S.Supreme Court, where justices are expected to soon vote on state abortion lawsand could ultimately overturn abortion rights across the country.

Women's rights advocates gathered at the Texas capitol on Saturday to protest against theUnited States' most restrictive abortion law, launching a series of660 marches around the United States in support of reproductivefreedom.

A crowd of more than 1,000 protesters assembled insweltering heat in front of the Austin building where lawmakers earlierthis year passed a measure that bans abortions after about sixweeks, which Gov. Greg Abbott later signed.

"Abort Abbott" appeared on several of the demonstrators'signs and T-shirts,while others sported the Texas state slogan,"Come and Take It" next to a drawing of a uterus.

"Our vision for Texas is still rugged and resilient," AnnHoward, a commissioner of Travis County, which includes Austin,told the crowd. "But it's also open and inclusive andcompassionate. Our Texas safeguards individual freedoms."

Supreme Court to consider Mississippi case

In Washington, D.C., protesters marched to the U.S.Supreme Court two days before the court reconvenes for a sessionin which thejustices will consider a Mississippi case that could enable themto overturn abortion rights established in the landmark 1973 Roev. Wade case.

Appointments of justices by former president Donald Trump have strengthened conservative control of the high court.

Thousands of women filled a square near the White House for a rally before the march. Many waved signs that said "Mind your own uterus," "I love someone who had an abortion" and "Abortion is a personal choice, not a legal debate," among other messages.

Some wore T-shirts reading simply "1973," a reference to the landmark Roe v. Wade decision, which made abortion legal for generations of American women.

Elaine Baijal, a 19-year-old student at American University, took cellphone photos with her friends and their signs as the event started. She said her mother told her of coming to a march for legal abortion with her own mother in the 1970s.

"It's sad that we still have to fight for our right 40 years later. But it's a tradition I want to continue," Baijal said of the march.

Court denied attempt to block Texas ban

In a 5-4 decision on Sept. 1, Supreme Court justices denied a requestfrom abortion and women's health providers to block enforcementof the near-total ban in Texas, the strictest such law in thecountry.

"This is kind of a break-glass moment for folks all acrossthe country," said Rachel O'Leary Carmona, executive director ofWomen's March, the main organizer of Saturday's demonstrations.

"Many of us grew up with the idea that abortion would belegal and accessible for all of us, and seeing that at very realrisk has been a moment of awakening," she said.

The march is part of "a fight to secure, safeguard, and strengthen our constitutional right to an abortion And it's a fight against the Supreme Court justices, state lawmakers, and senators who aren't on our side or aren't acting with the urgency this moment demands."

Second-biggest demonstration after Trump's inauguration

Carmona said the number of marches scheduled for Saturday issecond only to the group's first protest, which mobilizedmillions of people around the world to rally against Trump the day after his inauguration in 2017.

Saturday's marches will take place from coast to coast,including in cities across Texas, a flashpoint in the nation'sbattle over abortion rights. A number of events are also being held in Canada to show solidarity with women in the U.S., including in Winnipeg, Halifax and St. John's.

Hundreds of people gathered on the Manitoba legislative grounds in Winnipeg.

Demonstrators held signs that said, "Abortion is essential health care," and "Keep your nose out of my uterus." Others wore costumes from The Handmaid's Tale, referencingthe fictional book and TV show set in atotalitarianregime where women are treated as property.

"Everyone with a uterus should be able to access the reproductive health they need not what we think they need," said speaker Blandine Tona, the program director of the Women's Health Clinic.

Texas has outlawed abortion after six weeks

Texas's so-called "heartbeat" law, which went intoeffect on Sept. 1, bans abortion after cardiac activity isdetected in the embryo, usually around six weeks. That is beforemost women know they are pregnant and earlier than 85to 90 per centofall abortions are carried out, experts say.

Texas also lets ordinary citizens enforce the ban, rewardingthem at least $10,000 if they successfully sue anyone who helpedprovide an illegal abortion.

WATCH | Texas 'heartbeat' law could force U.S. Supreme Court to revisit Roe v. Wade:

Texas passes law banning abortions after six weeks

3 years ago

Duration 4:02

Texas has passed one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the U.S., banning abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy. Abortion providers say many women don't even know they're pregnant at that time.

Abortion rights advocates and the U.S. Justice Departmenthave challenged the law in state and federal courts, arguingthat it violates Roe v. Wade.

A federal judge in Austin on Friday heard the JusticeDepartment's requestto block the law temporarily while its constitutionality ischallenged.

In New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul spoke at rallies in Seneca Falls and then Albany. "I'm sick and tired of having to fight over abortion rights," she said. "It's settled law in the nation and you are not taking that right away from usnot now, not ever."

At an unrelated event in Maine, Republican Sen. Susan Collins called the Texas law "extreme, inhumane and unconstitutional" and said she's working to make Roe v. Wade the "law of the land."

She said she's working with two Democrats and another Republican, and they're "vetting" the language of their bill. Collins declined to identify her colleagues, but said the legislation will be introduced soon.

'The fight is at your doorstep'

The Texas law was a focus of the speakers in Washington.

"We're going to keep giving it to Texas," Marsha Jones of the Afiya Center for Black women's health care in Dallas, pledged to the crowd. "You can no longer tell us what to do with our bodies!"

Alexis McGill Johnson, the president of Planned Parenthood nationally, told of women forced to drive many hours across state lines sometimes multiple state lines to end pregnancies in the weeks since the Texas law went into effect.

"The moment is dark but that is why we are here," Johnson told the crowd packed into Freedom Square and surrounding streets. With the upcoming Supreme Court term, "No matter where you are, this fight is at your doorstep right now."

An opponent of women's access to abortion called this year's march theme "macabre."

"What about equal rights for unborn women?" tweeted Jeanne Mancini, president of an anti-abortion group called March for Life.