A pro-life crowd including students, mothers, feminists, conservatives, liberals, and Democrats as well as Republicans gathered outside the Supreme Court building Wednesday as the sun rose over Washington. 

Americans traveled to the Supreme Court from across the country to express their views on abortion and call for the nine justices to overturn the court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade after hearing oral arguments in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. 

Katie Moos and her 10-year-old son, Silas, came to the nation’s capital from California. Holding handwritten signs, Moos told The Daily Signal that the Supreme Court was hearing “a landmark case that could change history and save a lot of people’s lives.”

Katie Moos, 42, traveled to the Supreme Court from California to uphold the lives of unborn babies.

Inside, the high court listened to arguments in Dobbs, a case that observers say could result in the justices’ overturning Roe v. Wade and returning power to the states to determine abortion laws. 

“Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization presents an opportunity for the Supreme Court to correct a grave constitutional error and overturn Roe v. Wade,” Melanie Israel, a policy analyst at The Heritage Foundation, wrote in a commentary for The Daily Signal, the think tank’s multimedia news organization.

In the commentary, Israel explained the central question before the Supreme Court: 

Dobbs v. Jackson presents the Supreme Court with one straightforward question: Are all pre-viability bans on elective abortion unconstitutional (that is, can states protect unborn children before they are able to survive outside the womb)?

In answering this question, the court must confront its earlier decisions like Roe w. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey.

The high-profile case stems from a Mississippi law, passed in 2018 but not yet in effect, which bans most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. 

Mississippi’s only remaining abortion clinic, Jackson Women’s Health Organization, immediately filed a lawsuit in response to the pro-life law.

Pro-life and pro-choice activists held dueling rallies Wednesday outside the Supreme Court. Among the relatively young pro-life crowd were some who called themselves leftists, Democrats, and feminists. 

“I’m also here representing alternative pro-lifers who aren’t religious, aren’t Republican,” California resident Kristin Turner told The Daily Signal. 

Turner, 20, is communications director for a group called the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising. 

As a progressive, Turner said, she believes in “equality, nonviolence and nondiscrimination, but we understand that should be applied to every single human being from the moment they exist at fertilization, and that is not an ideological or religious viewpoint.”

“Life does begin at fertilization, and that’s just a fact,” she said.

“I’m pro-life because I understand that my liberation should never come at the expense of another human’s life,” Kristin Turner told The Daily Signal.

The Supreme Court is expected to announce its ruling in the Dobbs case next June. 

In the meantime, hundreds of Americans held signs outside the high court in support of the unborn, urging the justices to protect the sanctity of life. 

Here are 18 more photos of some of the best homemade signs from the pro-life rally.

“I feel like this could really be a turning point for us as a nation,” Jordan, who is from Oklahoma, said.
Pam Gesund, 58, from Ann Arbor, Michigan, said she attended the rally “to stand up for life.”
“I am anti-abortion, anti-death penalty, pro-immigration and I believe, as a registered Democrat, that the Democratic Party should uphold and protect the most vulnerable from womb to tomb,” Ashley Jones of Florida said.
Rene Hayes, 47, traveled to the Supreme Court from Arizona to advocate the sanctity of life.
Stephen Kosciesza, 67, a long-time pro-life advocate, said he knows a lot of work must be done even if Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Gwen Anderson traveled from Virginia with friends and family to stand up for the rights of the unborn.
“We are hoping for a God-filled day of protection and hope for changed hearts,” Carol from Indiana said. “We are praying for the justices, for the attorneys, and the innocent lives that we are standing up for.”
Karen said she traveled from Indiana to be a voice for the voiceless.
Virginia resident Brooke Anderson voiced her pro-life convictions.
“There’s just no question: Every life needs to be protected,” said Carol Trebe of Arlington, Virginia.
“I believe Roe v. Wade was wrongly decided, and I think most honest people on either side could admit that,” Candice Stewart from Tennessee said.
Colton, 20, is one of about 1,000 Liberty University students who traveled to the Supreme Court from Lynchburg, Virginia.
Shiona is a senior at Liberty University.
“Life matters and life is important,” said Mallory Finch, of Charlotte, North Carolina, who is the host of the “Those Other Girls” podcast.
Michele De Groote, a freshman at Liberty University, said she was excited to be a part of a significant moment in history.
Hannah Snelbaker is a sophomore at Grove City College in Pennsylvania.
Adelaide is a sophomore at Grove City College.
“Abortion puts LGBT people at risk because if there is ever a gene found that could pre-expose people [as] LGBT, that could be targeted by selective abortion,” Elise, 25, said.
If Roe v. Wade is overturned, “states will have the freedom to put forth legislation that will protect pre-born life pre-viability,” said Anna Lulis, 23, the digital engagement strategist at Students for Life of America.

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