Uproar about the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion escalated this weekend, with pro-abortion protests throughout the country—including during Catholic Mass. Using the hashtag #Mother’sDayStrike, abortion supporters called for demonstrations in churches that hold to pro-life teachings.
Last week’s leak indicates that Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case that legalized most abortions, may soon be overturned. But it’s not a final opinion.
Also over the weekend, the office of a pro-life group in Wisconsin was vandalized. And addresses of conservative Supreme Court justices were published, leading to protests outside their homes.
Abortion Protests Target Catholic Churches
From Los Angeles to New York City this weekend, several large Catholic cathedrals experienced abortion-rights demonstrations. In LA, abortion advocates disrupted Mass at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Angels. One person tweeted video of the melee, writing: “Marxists try to disrupt Mass…. Security, ushers and parishioners said they were not having it.”
Saturday at St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral in Manhattan, abortion supporters held signs that read “Abortion is a gift” and “RIP Jesus, killed by ‘woke’ deadbeat dad.” Some pro-life demonstrators also stood outside the cathedral.
Security had been tightened at many churches across America, in anticipation of pro-abortion protests. The group Ruth Sent Us, named for progressive former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, tweeted on May 3: “Whether you’re a ‘Catholic for Choice’, ex-Catholic, of other or no faith, recognize that six extremist Catholics set out to overturn Roe. Stand at or in a local Catholic Church Sun May 8. #WarOnWomen #MothersDayStrike”
The tweet features a video of protesters shouting, in part, “Abortion on demand and without apology.” [Editor’s note: The video contains language some may find offensive.] Several images posted by Ruth Sent Us feature women dressed as characters from the dystopian novel and TV show “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
The group’s reference to “six extremist Catholics” on the Supreme Court isn’t necessarily accurate. Chief Justice John Roberts, though Catholic, didn’t sign the 5-4 draft opinion that was leaked. Authored by Samuel Alito, who is Catholic, the opinion also has signatures from Catholic Justices Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. The fifth backer, Justice Neil Gorsuch, is Episcopalian.
Mike Pence Had Urged Joe Biden to ‘Speak Out’ Against Protests
On Saturday, former Vice President Mike Pence, who is staunchly pro-life, said Joe Biden should take a stand against demonstrations and violence. “President Biden should speak out forcefully, make it clear that those who support his view on abortion, on the Supreme Court, let their voice be heard, but heard peacefully and respect the law,” he told The Daily Wire.
“The president of the United States is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America,” Pence added. “And he ought to make it very, very clear that anyone who would engage in violence or threaten violence or disrupt religious services would be held to the strictest account.”
Although Pence called the Supreme Court leak “despicable,” he said, “I hope and pray that the draft opinion becomes adopted as the majority opinion of the Supreme Court of the United States and we send Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history where it belongs.”