By Julia Harte

(Reuters] – A total of 660 marches are planned across America on Saturday by advocates for women’s right to protest recent restrictions to abortion access.

In Washington, D.C., protesters will march to the U.S. Supreme Court two days before the court reconvenes for a session https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN2GR3F4 in which the justices will consider a Mississippi case that could enable them to overturn abortion rights established in the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case.

The justices rejected a request by abortionists and women’s healthcare providers for a blockade of Texas’ near-total ban on September 1.

Rachel O’Leary Carmona (executive director, Women’s March), the organizer of Saturday’s protests, said, “This is sort of a break glass moment for people all across the country.”

She said, “Many of our ancestors believed that abortion was legal and available for everyone. Seeing that it is not has been an awakening moment.”

Carmona stated that Saturday’s march is the second largest of the protests planned by the group, after the first one which mobilized millions around the globe to support former President Donald Trump on the day following his 2017 inauguration.

From coast to coast and including cities in Texas, Saturday’s marches are a part of the national fight over abortion rights.

A state law known as “heartbeat”, which was in effect Sept. 1, prohibits abortions when cardiac activity is detected within the embryo. It usually takes around six weeks. Experts say this is before women even know that they’re pregnant. It also means that 85%-90% of abortions can be performed in the first six weeks.

Texas lets citizens also enforce the ban. They can receive at most $10,000 if they succeed in suing someone who provided illegal abortions.

In Texas alone, more than 100 women seeking abortion have gone to Texas in the past month. Other women also visited centers that offer abortion prevention services. Abortion clinics are struggling to survive https://www.reuters.com/world/us/texas-abortion-clinics-struggle-survive-under-restrictive-law-2021-09-30 as patient visits decline and some staff quit.

The U.S. Justice Department and abortion rights advocates have challenged this law in federal and state court, claiming that it is contrary to Roe v. Wade.

A federal judge in Austin on Friday heard the Justice Department’s request https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-administration-urge-halt-strict-texas-abortion-law-2021-10-01 to block the law temporarily while its constitutionality is challenged.