By Dareh Gregorian -
NBC News
More than a dozen House Democrats were arrested outside the Supreme Court Tuesday during a street blockade protesting the overturning of Roe v.
Wade, which constitutionally protected the right to abortion.
Capitol Police said they made 35 arrests, including 17 lawmakers.
Among those arrested were Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Carolyn Maloney, both from New York;
Ilhan Omar for Minnesota;
Cori Bush for Missouri;
Veronica Escobar for Texas;
Jackie Speier and Barbara Lee, both from California;
and Ayanna Pressley for Massachusetts.
The lawmakers said they were carrying out an act of civil disobedience.
Ocasio-Cortez and Omar tweeted videos of their arrests.
"Today I was arrested while participating in a civil disobedience action with my fellow members of Congress in front of the Supreme Court. I will continue to do everything in my power to sound the alarm about the assault on our reproductive rights!" Omar wrote.
Pressley's spokesman, Ricardo A. Sanchez, said the congresswoman had "joined her colleagues and grassroots advocates for nonviolent civil disobedience in protest of the Supreme Court's callous and callous decision."
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez detained by US Capitol Police officers after participating in a protest with activists from the Center for Popular Democracy Action in front of the Supreme Court.Getty Images
"She, along with several of her companions, was arrested as part of the peaceful demonstration and is currently in the custody of the United States Capitol Police," Sanchez added.
Capitol Police reported making arrests for
"crowding, obstruction, or discomfort."
In a series of tweets, authorities argued that they issued the three standard warnings to protesters to stop blocking traffic.
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"Some of the protesters are refusing to come off the street so we are starting to make arrests," Capitol Police said in one of the tweets.
In a statement, Maloney said: “I am privileged to represent a state where reproductive rights are respected and protected: the least I can do is put my body on the line for the 33 million women who run the world. risk of losing their rights.
Representatives Nydia Velázquez, D-New York, center, Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, center right, and Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-New York, right, on the street in front of the United States Supreme Court in Washington, DC, United States, on Tuesday, July 19, 2022.Getty Images
"We'll be back," added Maloney,
who faces Congressman Jerry Nadler in next month's New York primary after redistricting.
Congressional Democrats have staged other protests at the Supreme Court in the weeks since the conservative majority struck down the constitutional right to abortion.
In late June, California Rep. Judy Chu, who authored legislation that would codify the Roe v.
Wade, was one of 181 people detained near the courthouse.
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The House of Representatives passed Chu's bill in September, but Democrats lack the votes needed to prevent a Republican sabotage in the evenly split Senate.
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Earlier this month, President Joe Biden signed an executive order aimed at protecting access to abortion.
The order is intended to safeguard access to reproductive health services, including abortion and contraception;
protect privacy and access to accurate information;
and promote the safety of patients, providers, and clinics.