Former federal prosecutor slams Republicans for violence against abortion rights defenders

When the U.S. Supreme Court announced its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization on Friday, June 24 — overturning Roe v. Wade after 49 years — massive demonstrations occurred all over the United States. Pundits in the right-wing media have been making the ludicrous claim that only liberal and progressive abortion rights defenders would respond to the ruling with violence, but former federal prosecutor Joyce White Vance has been quick to note the right-wing MAGA violence that has occurred since the Dobbs ruling was handed down.

On June 25, Vance — a University of Alabama law professor and frequent guest on MSNBC — tweeted:

Vance was responding to a June 25 tweet by Democrat Jennifer Rourke, who is running for a seat in the Rhode Island State Senate in the 2022 midterms. Rourke alleges that she was violently attacked by a Republican police officer, who was off duty, after speaking at an abortion rights rally in Providence. According to the Providence Police Department, the alleged assailant, Jeann Lugo, has been “placed on administrative leave…. pending a criminal investigation.”

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Lugo was running against Rourke in that race but announced that he has dropped out.

On June 25, the Daily Beast’s Noah Kirsch reported that Rourke told the publication “that she has been suffering from concussion-like symptoms and has been in touch with Providence police about pressing charges.” According to Kirsch, Rourke “went to the hospital over the weekend to receive a precautionary CT scan, she said, and doctors told her to return if her symptoms worsen.”

Vance also tweeted:

Providence wasn’t the only place where violence against abortion rights protesters occurred. Another incident occurred in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on June 24:

Some of the abortions rights demonstrations that took place after the Dobbs ruling was announced were massive. In Philadelphia, for example, thousands of abortion rights protesters gathered outside of City Hall on June 24 and filled nearby streets. That demonstration, which was followed by more demonstrations in Philly the following day, was largely peaceful, although there were some tense moments when some far-right Christian fundamentalists showed up to taunt people in the crowd.