St. Louisans Protest for Abortion Rights, 'Roe v. Wade' Could Be Overturned

A few hundred protestors peacefully gathered outside the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse Tuesday night to voice opposition to the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft opinion to overturn abortion rights.

News broke Monday that the Supreme Court drafted a ruling to overturn federal legal access to abortion, a right that the landmark decision Roe v. Wade established in 1973.

As previously reported by the RFT, Missouri has a “trigger law” that gives the state the authority to prohibit abortions, except in medical emergencies, upon the repeal of Roe v. Wade. The bill was signed by Governor Mike Parson in 2019.

With the real possibility that access to safe and legal abortion will be banned before the end of the year, many St. Louisans gathered in favor of abortion rights.

Chants echoed off downtown St. Louis buildings as protestors huddled in the chill air and shouted: “Our bodies, our choice, no sexist court can take our voice." "Free abortion on demand. People hate abortion bans." And “get up, get down, St. Louis is an abortion town.”


“As they attack us, we won’t turn back,” Congresswoman Cori Bush said in a speech to the crowd. “As they attack us with this, we won’t turn, and we won’t stop, because lives are on the line.”

Protestors exhibited one shared emotion — resolve.

“I feel rejuvenated,” Mallory Schwarz, executive director of Pro-Choice Missouri told the RFT after the rally. “We’re not going to stop showing up. We’re gonna fight back.”

Over a dozen speakers shared stories about their experiences with abortion as those in the audience listened intently, some through tears.

One woman recounted how when she was 15, she induced an abortion on the floor of her childhood bathroom. Another shared how she underwent an abortion procedure at 23 during a time in her life when she couldn’t afford her home’s gas bill, much less a baby.

Several speakers shared stories about how they’d done everything right by traditional standards — abstinence, birth control, planned pregnancies — but still underwent abortions for various reasons, from rape to fatal-fetal diagnoses.


The crow chanted “thank you, we love you” to those who shared their stories.

“To see that there are so many people who are working very hard to make it right, I feel hopeful,” says Megan O’Brien. She works with Pro-Choice Missouri as a clinic escort, a volunteer who helps shield patients from harassment as they walk in and out of abortion clinics.

News of the Supreme Court’s draft decision “hit like a ton of bricks,” O’Brien says, even though, “It’s something I think we’ve been anticipating for quite a while now, with the makeup of the court.”

The political makeup of Missouri’s government has already made abortion nearly inaccessible, according to Schwarz. In 2019, House Bill 126 prohibited abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy. Many who seek abortions have to go out of state.
The Missouri Abortion Fund, an organization that helps people pay for abortion care, funded 1,866 abortions in 2021. Only two of the abortions were performed in Missouri, according to Michele Landeau, board president of The Missouri Abortion Fund.

“What’s going to happen when Roe falls is that it’s going to make Missourians have to wait longer and travel father; it’s going to be more expensive,” Landeau says.

Bush called on protesters to fight against the court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

“You are here with this moment and this information, so you are charged with doing something about it,” Bush says. “You are charged, so you have been compelled to move and the world for generations will thank you.”

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