Demonstrators take to Houston's federal courthouse to protest Supreme Court abortion ruling

Friday would be the first night of protests, but it wouldn’t be the last.

“We need protests, walkouts, occupations and sit-ins so that we can push back against these attacks and win back the right to abortions,” said Brian Harrison, who organized the protest as part of Socialist Alternative Houston.

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Texas last year had already imposed one of the strictest abortion laws in the country. But Friday’s ruling, which lets states decide how to regulate the procedure, will open the door to additional criminal penalties for healthcare providers across the state, on top of the civil liabilities under the current law.

It wasn’t just abortion-rights demonstrators who braved the 95-degree afternoon heat. Up to 60 abortion opponents celebrated a victory for them outside a fenced-off Planned Parenthood clinic in Houston, where they prayed and sang songs that included Amazing Grace. 

But among the hundreds outside the federal courthouse, the outrage and anguish were palpable. Police efforts to keep the crowd on the sidewalk quickly failed, and demonstrators spilled out on to Rusk Street, chanting and cheering. The protest was loud but peaceful. Police said they made no arrests. 

“It’s infuriating that the Supreme Court is able to make decisions on whether or not the states can regulate guns or not. They said no to that, yet womens’ autonomy is being denied,” said Brianna Rankin, who had the numbers of two attorneys written in marker on her arms. “We’ve seen what happened in similar protests in this city.”

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Rankin drove from Pearland to attend the demonstration. Others came from farther away.

Cynthia Lebeau and her friend Katelyn Conner drove two hours from Lufkin, buying markers and poster board on the trip down. Lebeau jumped in the car soon after learning of the decision and planned to hold a protest Saturday in her city.

“I don’t have a uterus anymore,” Lebeau said of the decision. “We’re going backwards”

In her hands, she held a sign that read, “Ready for war.” 

Sara Ellis, of Houston, wandered around the back of the protest dressed in the red dress and white bonnet made famous by The Handmaid’s Tale.

“This morning completely made me nauseated,” Ellis said. “It’s going to take years before we get things back.”

Demonstrators gathered at other locations around Houston before the protest at the federal courthouse took shape. Kathleen Ruhleder initially showed up to Water Works at Buffalo Bayou for a protest planned there. 

“I see that a lot of the social progress that has been made in my lifetime is now being eroded,” she said at the park. “This is one of the big ones here. This is going to make life much more difficult for my children.”

Ruhleder anticipates there will be more opportunities to protest in Houston in the coming months. 

“Hopefully, we’ll get people out for the election,” she said. 

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Later, at the courthouse, Kingwood resident Mary Paquette handed out more than 20 voter registration cards — “the most powerful sign here” — among attendees. 

Texas Democratic gubernatorial candidate Beto O’Rourke made an unexpected appearance, wading in from the back of the crowd and stopping to taking photos as people recognized him. 

O’Rourke didn’t speak, and some of the crowd urged him to turn attention back to the speakers, as they shared personal stories of about abortions. At one point, the crowd chanted “Democrats we call your bluff; voting blue in is not enough.”

An advertisement for a Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, one of the groups that called for protests Friday, urged people to participate in “nonviolent mass resistance” and to bring “bring the gears of society to a grinding halt.”

Jamilah Hoffman, an organizer for Rise Up, said the group has been inspired by protests in Argentina and Mexico and other nations that recently legalized or decriminalized abortion. Rise Up protesters were encouraged to wear green clothing, in the same fashion as the protesters abroad. 

“I’m still processing what has happened and what it means going forward for women, ” she said, adding, “It’s a time to mobilize and work together to create a society that benefits all of us and not just a narrow few.” 

J.R. Gonzales and Ryan Nickerson contributed.

john.ferguson@chron.com, julian.gill@chron.com