Roe V. Wade: Overtime Pay OK’d For DC Police Responding To Protests

Updated (1:05 p.m.): This story was updated with information about the Metropolitan Police Department activating its Civil Disturbance Unit.

WASHINGTON, DC — Anticipating an increase in First Amendment demonstrations taking place across the District over the next few days, the Metropolitan Police Department activated its Civil Disturbance Unit on Tuesday.

The activation authorizes overtime assignment through Sunday for CDU members, as well as officers in MPD's Office of Intelligence, Violent Crime Suppression Division, Internal Affairs Division, Investigations Division, and the Homeland Security Bureau.

“We are working closely with our partner law enforcement agencies to prepare for any potential demonstrations in the area of the Supreme Court, including adding additional officers in the area," the U.S. Capitol Police said, in a statement on Tuesday.

Large crowds began gathering Monday night outside the U.S. Supreme Court to protest against the possible striking down of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that made abortion legal in all 50 states.

Earlier in the evening, Politico published an initial draft majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito and circulated inside the court.

The news site called the draft opinion "a full-throated, unflinching repudiation of the 1973 decision which guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights and a subsequent 1992 decision — Planned Parenthood v. Casey — that largely maintained the right."

If Roe v. Wade is overturned in June or July, it would be up to the states to decide women's abortion access. At least 26 are certain or likely to ban abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights policy group.

Related: Roe V. Wade Will Be Struck Down, Politico Reports, Citing Leaked Draft

As news of the draft opinion circulated, protesters gathered Monday night outside the U.S. Supreme Court, where police had erected a barricade, according to D.C. Examiner reporter Cami Mondeaux, in a 9:10 p.m. post on Twitter.

Saqib Ul Islam, a journalist with the Foreign Press Center, reported on Twitter around 11:41 p.m. that there was a large police presence around the U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court building. Police had closed First Street Northeast between Constitution and Independence Avenue to traffic.

Abortion-rights protesters were still chanting outside the Supreme Court around 1 a.m., according to Mondeaux.

Washington, D.C., and 16 states, including Virginia, have laws on the books protecting abortion rights.

In response to Alito's leaked draft opinion, Tarina Keene, executive director of Pro-Choice Virginia, issued a statement calling the news "stunning and heartwrenching" and that it would eliminated the last thread holding women's reproductive rights together.

“One thing Virginians can be assured of is that abortion is legal in our Commonwealth," she said. "In fact, we made history by passing the first pro-abortion rights bill with the passage of the Reproductive Health Protection Act and rolled back decades of restrictions on abortion care. We also lifted the ban on abortion coverage on the state’s healthcare exchange in 2021. We will continue to fight every day in the legislature and at the ballot box to ensure the right to abortion is not only protected but accessible to every person who wants or needs it whether they are Virginians or not. The Commonwealth’s borders will be open and a safe haven to all who need abortion no matter where they live.”

Women’s March called on its supporters to protest outside government buildings in their communities, including federal buildings and courthouses, at 5 p.m. local time Tuesday.

“We’re horrified, saddened, and livid,” the reproductive rights organization posted late Monday night on its official Twitter account. “If you are too, then now is the time to show up and show them our movement won't back down from protecting our reproductive rights.”

In the run-up to the 2021 election, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin promised that he would "proudly advocate to limiting abortions when the unborn child can feel pain." He also opposed the idea of Virginia taxpayers paying for abortions.

Youngkin participated in the April 27 March for Life outside the U.S. Capitol. “I’m the governor and I’m pro-life, so it wasn’t a hard decision,” he told a reporter covering the march, according to the Virginia Mercury.

On Tuesday morning, Youngkin told Brandon Jarvis, a reporter with Virginia Scoop, that Monday's leak was a "terrible injustice to the Supreme Court and America" meant to "cause chaos and to put pressure on elected officials."

If the court does decide to overturn Roe v. Wade, it would be up to the states to determine the level of restrictions that needed to be put in place, and Youngkin said Virginia was where it should be.

The 2021 election showed that there was a lot of common ground between pro-life and abortion-rights advocates in Virginia, according to Youngkin.

"We want fewer abortions not more," he told Virginia Scoop. "People don't want abortions that run all the way up through birth. We actually want parents to know what's going on in the lives of their of their children who are minors. There is a lot of common ground here."