In response to the call from RiseUp4AbortionRights.org to “Leave work! Leave school! Raise your voice and raise hell! No business as usual!,” students and supporters of abortion rights walked out, rallied and marched in the streets in over 20 cities across the country. The key message of these actions was voiced by Sunsara Taylor—a co-initiator of Rise Up and co-host of The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show on YouTube—at the Union Square rally in New York City:

We must stop the Supreme Court from overturning Roe v. Wade—and we CAN! We can if we make clear, through our mass nonviolent and relentless resistance, that we will bring the gears of society to a grinding halt before we accept the ending of abortion rights. Everyone has a role to play and we must act together now!

A RiseUp4AbortionRights.org news release gave a sense of what took place on May 26:

They took over the Brooklyn Bridge. They marched through a Macy’s and shut down Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. “A march of green-clad abortion-rights protesters crossed paths with black-gowned Harvard graduates just after noon Thursday in Harvard Square.”

An onlooker in New York tweeted: “Just witnessed this brave bunch of kids stand up for their rights over their own bodies by blocking the Brooklyn Bridge. On yourselves kids.” Another from his car: “Current situation: stuck at a standstill on the Brooklyn Bridge and not even mad about it. Disrupt the system babes.”

At Union Square earlier, the #RiseUp4AbortionRights protesters had been joined by students who had walked out to condemn the school shooting massacre in Uvalde, Texas…

Actor Mark Ruffalo marched with his children and spoke to the crowd afterward, saying he was inspired by his daughters, their friends and the rest of the youth for walking out several weeks in a row to preserve abortion rights - rights he said his own mother did not have.

Middle and high school students walked out and marched through the Mission District of San Francisco. Abortion rights advocates marched through the streets of Los Angeles and Center City in Philadelphia.

Actors Kerry Washington and Milla Janovich both posted messages of solidarity with the student walkouts.

Walkouts and protests were also scheduled in Atlanta, Austin, Cleveland, Detroit, Frisco TX, Greensboro NC, Honolulu, Houston, Orange CA, Marietta GA, Seattle, Staunton VA, Wichita, and other cities.

On this page are sights and sounds from some of what happened on May 26 in a number of cities.

At the rallies, Rise Up organizers called on people to come to a Zoom organizing summit on Sunday the 29th, to plan next steps. Stay tuned to the RiseUp4AbortionRights website for information on what comes next.