Photos from outside the U.S. Supreme Court during the abortion pill arguments

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday as justices heard oral arguments in a high-stakes case that could limit access to a common pharmaceutical used in both medication abortion and miscarriage care.

Police forces for the U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court established metal fencing to largely separate demonstrators who support and oppose abortion, though verbal confrontations were common away from the barriers.

The Women’s March dubbed its organized rally “Bans Off Our Mife” and featured speakers and signs protesting the case brought to the high court by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, a conservative group formed in 2022 that aims to reverse government approval of the medication abortion pill mifepristone.

Several other organizations were represented, including Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Reproductive Freedom For All, formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice America.

Lauranne Oliveau of Lovettsville, Virginia, said she took the train to Washington to protest the case.

“I am 69 years old, and I can’t believe we’re still fighting this (expletive),” Oliveau said. “If Roe had never passed, I would be the mother of a child of a rapist.”

The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, outlawing the federal right to an abortion and triggering a patchwork of state laws, including bans in some states.

Groups including the Alliance for Defending Freedom and Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising demonstrated in support of the case that could potentially limit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s authority to approve pharmaceuticals.

Gabriel Chambers, a 20-year-old student from Louisville, Kentucky who now studies at George Mason University in Virginia, read aloud from the “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” published by the Heritage Foundation. The book details a roadmap for a conservative administration to severely restrict or ban remaining abortion policies.

“Congress should pass Protecting Life and Taxpayers Act, which would accomplish the goal of defunding Planned Parenthood,” Chambers read out loud while pointing to the pages relating to abortion.