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Little Rock street briefly shut down during abortion protests

Little Rock protesters briefly shut down 7th and Chester Street on Wednesday as demonstrators gathered in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Little Rock protesters briefly shut down 7th and Chester Street on Wednesday evening, as demonstrators gathered in response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

There were roughly 20-24 demonstrators that were a part of the protest, with those in attendance blocking the road for about 20 minutes before Little Rock police gave them a dispersal warning. 

"Every day, we are out here to not necessarily get an annoyance on the government officials in the state, but to bring attention that we are not okay with the decisions that they keep making for us," Jay Miles, a demonstrator, said. 

Following the police warning, demonstrators moved to the State Capitol where there were roughly 40 people in attendance in total.

"Really what we're trying to bring to light [are] the statistics in this state," Miles said. "We have over 4800 kids in the state of Arkansas in foster care systems with only 1700 homes available" Miles said.

Protesters mentioned that this was the sixth day of demonstrations, with the protests taking place after Arkansas banned nearly all abortions in the state, except in the case where it threatens the life of the mother. 

This abortion ban happened after Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed the Arkansas "trigger law" in 2019, which later took form as the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in a 6-3 decision.

The ban became official after Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge certified that the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade, allowing the trigger law to go into effect. 

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