(LifeSiteNews) — After the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on Friday overturning Roe v. Wade, a pro-abortion protester from Los Angeles was taken into custody on a charge of attempted murder of local police officers after injuring an officer with a flamethrower.
Michael Ortiz was among many gathered in downtown Los Angeles to demand abortion access on a national level. According to Los Angeles Police Chief Michael Moore, the demonstrations were not overrun with incidents of violence.
“I’m grateful today’s events were largely peaceful,” the chief posted. “Unfortunately, some chose to enter the freeway posing a serious risk. Later, a much smaller group fired pyrotechnics at officers. Our people strived to facilitate demonstrations while defending our people from dangerous assaults.”
Ortiz used a homemade flamethrower on an officer, resulting in burn wounds that required medical attention. The injured officer was released from the hospital after treatment.
Juliana Bernado, 23, was arrested along with Ortiz. She was taken into custody after attempting to take an officer’s baton and resisting arrest. Bernado has since been released from jail on a bond of $25,000, according to the Los Angeles Times.
While abortion activists are turning to violence as a means of justice for what they refer to as “rights” or “health care,” pro-life attorney Susan Swift, vice president of legal affairs for the Right to Life League in California, defended the Dobbs decision as constitutional and clarified what it means for abortion access in the country.
“Our constitution by its very creation limits the power of the federal government because the founders didn’t want centralized power,” Swift said in an interview with Kristi Leigh of Red Voice Media on Sunday. “They wanted to make sure the people in the states had more power than the federal government.”
She explained how the issue of abortion being handed down to individual states has “restored balance to our constitution.”
In another interview, Swift told Dan Ball on Real America that “nothing has changed in the states” regarding abortion access and regulations. With the exception of a few states that have instituted an abortion ban since Friday, many states, including California, continue to offer abortions for some length of time during a pregnancy.
As Swift describes, abortion has been deemed unconstitutional, meaning it is not an issue to be determined by the federal government. Abortion is simply a matter left to states to settle.
“The outrage is political,” Swift said when asked why so many protests are erupting since the ruling. “They’re trying to create something to run on in November, because they are losing everywhere. Life is winning.”
The negative reactions to the decision were foreseen by the Department of Homeland Security, which released a memo on Friday warning the public of potential dangerous responses.
“Some domestic violent extremists (DVEs) will likely exploit the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade to intensify violence against a wide range of targets,” the report states. “We expect violence could occur for weeks following the release.”
The backlash for the Supreme Court’s decision continues to spread across the county. Activists have adopted the motto “We Won’t Go Back” as their outcry demanding abortion “rights” for women.
According to the “We Won’t Go Back” map, 16 protests were scheduled for Monday along with one virtual rally. Most of the demonstrations were to take place east of Colorado, except for two set for California. There are also protests scheduled throughout the remainder of the week.