Hundreds of protestors gathered outside the Supreme Court as evening set in on Friday, following the justices’ decision to end the constitutional right to an abortion in the United States. Abortion rights supporters banged on drums and led chants, including “Never again, we won’t go back!” and “What do we want? Choice! When do we want it? Always!”

While the crowd was peaceful, there was outrage in the air as people confronted a future without a right that has been guaranteed for the past five decades. Where earlier in the day pro- and anti-abortion protesters demonstrated at the court in roughly equal numbers, by about 7 p.m. the crowd was almost entirely in favor of abortion rights.

“Today I’m fucking angry. We have been betrayed yet again by the government that we have put in power,” said Afeni, a core organizer with Freedom Fighters DC, one of the groups rallying protesters to the court.

Speakers with the abolitionist group Harriet’s Wildest Dreams linked the fight for abortion rights with the fight for Black liberation.

“Black bodies are under attack,” said one of the group’s co-conductors, Nee Nee Taylor, speaking to the crowd. “The most attacked person behind this decision is the Black woman.”

“We are not going to turn back. Abortion by any means necessary!” Taylor said, to cheers.

As Taylor spoke, officers with the U.S. Capitol Police stood behind the stage in yellow vests. Officers had been present at the Supreme Court all day Friday, some in riot gear. As night fell officers on bicycles fell into formation in front of the Capitol and followed protesters who marched through downtown.

Many demonstrators still seemed to be in disbelief over the ruling, despite the fact that it had been all but guaranteed ever since a draft decision was leaked in early May.

“I don’t have a lot of eloquent words today, I’m just unbelievably pissed,” said Amy Callner. Callner, a resident of Prince George’s County, carried a sign with the names of the five conservative justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, reading, “A bunch of assholes. Fuck you, seriously.”

“This isn’t about babies,” Callner said. “If it were about babies, we’d have things like parental leave, we’d have universal health care, we’d have fucking baby formula.”

Fifty-years ago, Rosie Sauser was at another Roe-related protest: she said her mother dragged her to an anti-abortion march after the Supreme Court affirmed a woman’s right to abortion in 1973.

On Friday, the Georgetown resident stood on the opposite side of history, joining abortion rights protestors outside the Supreme Court.

“Here we are with the same issue,” Sauser said. “I just can’t believe this is happening.”

Unlike some parts of the country, the D.C. region will not see any immediate changes in abortion access following the ruling – 13 states have “trigger laws” on the books that immediately clamp down on abortions following any ruling that strikes down Roe.

But the future for abortion access in the D.C. area is far from certain.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, a Republican, has reportedly asked lawmakers to draft legislation banning abortion after 15 weeks, mirroring the Mississippi law that the Supreme Court upheld Friday in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health ruling.

In D.C., while local officials are staunchly pro-abortion rights, they could be overruled by Congress if Republicans take control of both chambers in 2024. Congressional Republicans have a long history of working to curtail abortion rights in the District, including by banning the city from using Medicaid dollars to fund abortions. Because it’s not a state, the District has limited power to protect its local laws, though several local elected officials on Friday expressed their commitment to try.

“Washington, DC is a proud pro-choice city and access to abortion is still legal here,” Mayor Muriel Bowser wrote in a statement on Friday. “This is about health care. This is about women’s rights. This is about bodily autonomy. A majority of Americans believe in a woman’s right to choose. This fight is urgent but not over.”

In Maryland, abortion access is protected by a 1992 constitutional referendum that enshrined the right in state law. In a statement on Friday, Republican Gov. Larry Hogan said he planned to hold to that referendum and stay away from legislating abortion policy.

A number of people in the crowd wore red dresses and white bonnets, a nod to the Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel that depicts an ultra-religious society where women lose autonomy over their bodies.

One person in Handmaid’s garb stood before the fence blocking access to the court, holding a sign reading, “This is not fiction.”

“It’s a book that I read as a teenager,” said Ongisa Ichile-Mckenzie, also dressed in Handmaid red and white. Her sign, hastily written in blue ink letters, said “Fuck Gilead,” refering to the fictional name the U.S. is given after it is overtaken by Christian fundamentalists in Atwood’s book.

“I see that our country is turning into that, and how easily a work of fiction could be manifest in our daily lives,” Ichile-Mckenzie said.

Meanwhile, a handful of anti-abortion demonstrators remained outside the court, dwindling from the crowd of 100 or so who were celebrating earlier in the day when the decision has handed down.

“Abortion is now going back into the hands of the people,” said Cassie Pfitzenmeier, a D.C. resident and member of the anti-abortion group Bound4Life.

“Our organization has been out here for 18 years,” Pfitzenmeier said. “We’ve been praying for this day. It’s overwhelming, that’s the only word I can come up with.”

As the evening wore on, opposing protesters occasionally got into confrontations, yelling at one another and eventually being separated by police. The protest remained peaceful through the evening.

Small marches began to form as the sun set and protesters set off around downtown, including past D.C. police headquarters.

The city is expecting further demonstrations in the following hours and days. The Metropolitan Police Department plans to employ “full departmental activation” through Tuesday, June 28 in anticipation of continuing local protests, the department said in a statement Friday. Federal law enforcement is working with local police. All demonstrations in the city so far have been peaceful.

This story was updated to correct Rosie Sauser’s neighborhood of residence. This story was also updated with further information about the protests as the night wore on.