Jubilation, defiance outside U.S. Supreme Court in wake of Roe v. Wade reversal

It was 1971 when a then 17-year-old, pregnant Janet Clazzy had to travel from her home in Florida to New York to get an abortion because it was illegal in her state. 

Two years later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on a case known as Roe v. Wade, deciding that the U.S. Constitution protects women's right to terminate a pregnancy and the state cannot interfere with that right except in exceptional circumstances.

"It was wonderful," said Clazzy, now 69. "Somebody asked me if I've been protesting for Roe v. Wade all along, and I said, 'No, I didn't think I had to.' Our federal court and Supreme Court are supposed to protect our rights, not take them away."

Clazzy, a retired musician, was just one of hundreds of supporters for abortion rights who gathered in front of the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington on Friday to express their anger and dismay at the court's decision to overrule that 50-year-old opinion.

The majority conservative court ruled 6-3 to overturn the Roe v. Wade interpretation of the constitution and found that it does not protect abortion rights, opening the way for states to restrict or outright ban the medical procedure.

For the past couple of weeks, small groups of abortion-rights supporters and anti-abortion activists have gathered in front of the 2.4-metre-tall fence erected around the Supreme Court, anxiously awaiting the ruling. The area had been cordoned off as part of ramped-up security measures in the days after a draft of the court's opinion was leaked.

On Friday, security was beefed up even more and police stood behind the fence, arresting a few who tried to climb it. Some security officials waded through the crowd keeping the peace between opposing groups. 

Just past 10 a.m. ET,  with word that the opinion on the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the case being used to challenge the Roe v. Wade ruling, was to be released, both groups grew quieter.

Then, a woman there to protest against abortion grabbed her megaphone and announced: "The constitution does not confer a right to an abortion."

The announcement set off cheers of jubilation from those opposing abortion rights, as they blasted music, popped champagne and started up a bubble-making machine, turning the area where they had assembled into a mini street celebration.

For those who had been hoping Roe v. Wade would not be overturned, the decision was a blow; it sparked tears and disbelief, and chants of "Illegitimate!" 

But North Carolina resident Ilona Schwartz was ecstatic at hearing the decision. "I'm overjoyed," she said. "This is the greatest day of my entire life."

Schwartz was already in D.C. when the opinion came down, there for a meeting of the anti-abortion group Students for Life. She was in her hotel when she learned of the decision.

"We all started screaming and jumping [and said], 'We gotta get to the Supreme Court right now,'" she said.