Madeleine Dean Among Members of Congress Arrested During Abortion Rights Demonstration

US Capitol Police said 17 Democratic members of Congress were arrested outside the Supreme Court Tuesday, including Pennsylvania congresswoman Madeleine Dean.

Pennsylvania congresswoman Madeleine Dean was among 17 members of Congress arrested Tuesday during an abortion rights demonstration outside the US Supreme Court.

According to US Capitol Police, 35 people in total were arrested on charges of “crowding, obstructing or incommoding.” All congressional members arrested were Democrats and included 16 women and one man.

Video posted to social media shows Dean and Massachusetts congresswoman Ayanna Pressley being led away from the steps of the Supreme Court by an officer.

The legislators and throngs of demonstrators marched from the US Capitol to the Supreme Court to protest the recent ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. Dean and the others were arrested after sitting down and blocking the street. She was not arrested for protesting, but for obstructing the street.

“It is against the law to block traffic, so officers are going to give our standard three warnings before they start making arrests,” the police force tweeted Tuesday. “We have already given our standard three warnings. Some of the demonstrators are refusing to get out of the street, so we are starting to make arrests.”

Dean was processed and released the same day. She was issued a citation, which carries a $50 fine, but it is a small price to pay to protest a court decision that turns all American women “into second-class citizens,” Dean said in an interview with media.

“They are being stripped of their rights. It’s grotesque,” she said.

Dean said the “unjust, un-constitutional ruling” is putting lives in danger by putting the decision in the hands of state legislatures “where mostly white men are trying to exercise power over women’s lives.”