17 US lawmakers have been arrested during a pro-abortion demonstration outside the Supreme Court in Washington. The politicians and other demonstrators refused to clear the road between the Supreme Court and the Capitol, the police said on Twitter on Tuesday.
Among those arrested was left-wing Democrat Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. A video published on her Twitter account shows her being taken away by a police officer. According to the police, there were a total of 35 arrests.
MP Ilhan Omar, also a left-wing Democrat, spoke of an “action of civil disobedience”. “I will do everything I can to warn of the attack on our reproductive rights,” Omar added in a Twitter post.
In June, the Supreme Court overturned the basic right to abortion in the United States. Since then, a number of conservative-governed states have introduced severe abortion restrictions or outright bans.