Pro-Life Advocate Arrested During Supreme Court Abortion Hearing

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Nov 9, 2006   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Pro-Life Advocate Arrested During Supreme Court Abortion Hearing Email this article
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 9
, 2006

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The Supreme Court was packed on Wednesday as people on both sides of the abortion debate lined up in the rain overnight and waited for hours to get one of the 350 seats inside the chamber. The rest were left to play to the crowd of hundreds who stayed outside and to try to get an interview with a television reporter.

Yet the protester who gained the most attention was located inside the Supreme Court.

The most dramatic moment during the hearing came at about 10:40 a.m. when a man cried out from the back of the courtroom in a loud voice.

"Abortion is the shedding of innocent blood!" a man shouted as one of the pro-abrotion attorneys made her case to the high court’s judges.

The man was immediately tackled and dragged out of the courtroom by Supreme Court police, who later charged him with breaking a federal law against disrupting court proceedings.

He continued to shout out "Abortion is a sin" as he was led away.

The protester was later identified as Rives Miller Grogan a 40 year-old from Los Angeles and an Internet search did not reveal any information about him or past involvement with the issue of abortion.

Grogan’s shouting and commotion was the first such incident in recent years and surprised the spectators. It interrupted pro-abortion lawyer Priscilla Smith who was trying to explain why she disagreed with Congressional findings showing the partial-birth abortion procedure never medically necessary.

According to news reports, Grogan was taken to the U.S. Capitol Booking Center before being transported to D.C. Superior Court and also charged with resisting arrest and other offenses.

The last time a spectator shouted out during a meeting of the high court was in 1973 when publisher Larry Flynt shouted obscenities during a hearing in his own case.

Smith resumed her presentation of her case minutes later but the Grogan could still be heard shouting in the hallway.