Protesters blast Supreme Court — and Democrats — in downtown rally Friday

More than a thousand protestors gathered in Copley Square Friday night, taking aim at the Supreme Court’s leaked draft decision that would overturn Roe v. Wade and also at Democrats in Washington, D.C., for failing to pass legislation protect abortion rights.

Organizers from the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Boston Liberation Center rallied for abortion access with a growing crowd throughout the evening. In speeches on the steps of the Boston Public Library’s main branch, they warned of other Supreme Court rulings that could be overturned with the impending decision — such as Obergfell v. Hodges, which protects same-sex marriage — and warned of conservative efforts to roll back protections for trans and nonbinary people in the United States.

“We’re out here to keep fighting and putting pressure on the higher-ups in the government to really make sure that our voices are heard,” said Meilyn Huq, an organizer with the Party for Socialism and Liberation. “We are not going to sit idly by while millions of women, particularly poor women, are being affected by this decision.”

The groups’ first rally Tuesday night was held less than 24 hours after the February draft opinion leaked. Five Supreme Court justices voted to uphold Mississippi’s ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and further overturn the Roe v. Wade precedent, as POLITICO first reported Monday night, though the decision is not yet final.

Cat Yoder, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, told the crowd that the party’s members are involved in the labor movement, the anti-war movement, the movement against police brutality and the struggles for immigrant rights, LGBT rights and women’s rights.

“We know that though these struggles may seem separate, they all arise from the same source,” Yoder said. “They are all symptoms of the same disease. And that is this capitalist system that is sick and rotten to its core,” she said to loud applause and cheers.

She and other speakers pushed for the Women’s Health Protection Act, federal legislation sponsored by Rep. Ayanna Pressley that would ensure access to abortions in all 50 states.

Yoder asked those in the crowd to raise their hands if they’d voted for Democrats in the past. Lots of hands went up.

“Now I know that I voted for Democrats,” she said. “I voted for Joe Biden because I was afraid and I was told that, if I didn’t, things would get worse. But now look at us.”

Yoder asked protestors to put their hands down if they would continue voting for Democrats if they did not pass the Women’s Health Protection Act. Most hands went down.

If the draft opinion holds and Roe v. Wade is overturned, 26 states are likely or certain to ban abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights policy group.

In Massachusetts, the 2020 ROE Act affirms abortion access. But as Kate Dineen told the crowd after march, there are opportunities to expand abortion access in Massachusetts, too.

“I keep hearing people say things like, ‘Thank God I’m in Massachusetts,’ ‘it’s a bastion of reproductive justice,’ ‘it’ll be a haven state,’ Dineen told the crowd. “And all that is somewhat true. But despite the relative strength of the ROE Act here in Massachusetts, hospitals right here in Boston are sending patients out of state to get abortions.”

Dineen said she was far along in her pregnancy — past the 24-week mark of viability — when she said she learned her fetus had had an in-utero stroke. Her son, she said, was expected to either die or have “a fate far worse than death,” but Dineen said her doctor told her she would have to leave the state to get an abortion.

She and her husband traveled to Washington, D.C., and paid $10,000 out of pocket to get an abortion, she recalled, ending what was a “deeply wanted pregnancy.”

“Our hospitals need to step up and do more under the current state laws,” Dineen said. “At this watershed moment in our nation's history, the commonwealth of Massachusetts should be preparing to accept new patients from other states. And we should not be outsourcing patients like me to overburdened, under-resourced clinics in other states.”

As the group marched around Back Bay streets, many diners cheered from restaurants and drivers honked their horns in time with the protestors’ chants. The group grew as it moved, with marchers calling out to pedestrians to join them.

“Honestly, I’m angry,” said Hernan Fernandez as he marched with the crowd down Newbury Street. “I think this is the only thing that can change anything, ’cause we can’t vote harder. We’ve already voted Democrats into office, they don’t care about us. We have to hold them accountable with this.”

Ankita and Smita Deshpande, daughter and mother, marched together down Newbury Street.

“As a mother, I think it’s my duty to support the next generation,” Smita Deshpande said. “I mean, I had a very good life — all freedom, all choices — and if I don’t do this for the next generation, I would have failed miserably.”