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Updated 4:03 PM  |  January 21, 2017
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Latest updates: Women’s March on Washington liveblog

Follow our latest Women’s March on Washington liveblog for updates from the events in Washington.

Anti-abortion feminists protest in front of Supreme Court

A little over two dozen people – mostly women – with the anti-abortion group Students for Life gathered outside the Supreme Court with the aim of opposing abortion while also supporting women’s rights.

Some women’s marchers gawked at they group as they marched towards the Capitol, while others staged nonviolent counter protests.

Michele Hendrickson, 31, leads the group’s Eastern Regional Director. “It’s a woman’s march, we are pro-women and pro-life. Pro-life women have been left out today,” she said. She said her group believes that a woman’s rights start at the moment of conception.

She said she the group disagreed with the Women’s March having abortion access listed as one of their planks.

Hendrickson said the group is nonpartisan. “We’re not here on a political stance, or Trump.” Though she noted that they planned to hold him to account on his promise to defund Planned Parenthood and roll back Roe v Wade.

“Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women, abortion is used as a tool to oppress women,” said Lisa Twigg, 28, from Spotsylvania, VA. She said she considers herself a feminist and believes women are equal to men, but said that women had been “tricked” into thinking that they had to choose between having a baby and a career.

Twigg said she did not vote for Trump but planned to “hold him accountable” when it came to respecting women.

Beth Rahal, 26, from Lancaster PA is the on campus director for Students for Life. She said that giving pregnant women assistance with housing, schooling, and money was a better alternative to abortion. She said abortion was a “violence” against women.

Crowds now walking on highway to march

With Metro delays continuing, some people are walking from Virginia to D.C. on 1-395 across the 14th Street Bridge.

Arlington Memorial Bridge is closed to vehicles today and is a safer route for pedestrians.

WMATA says normal service has resumed on the Orange and Silver Lines after an earlier delay caused by a disabled train. In Maryland, MARC Train has run an extra four trains to deal with “unprecedented” crowd size.

Hillary Clinton tweets ‘thanks’ to marchers

Hillary Clinton, whose loss to Donald Trump initially inspired the Women’s March, tweeted her gratitude Saturday morning.

Using her presidential campaign slogan, “Stronger Together,” she also offered words of encouragement to the men and women out marching who by and large supported her in November, telling them their efforts are “important as ever.”

America Ferrera: ‘Our new president is waging a war’

Actress America Ferrera was the first to take the stage at the Women’s March, where she declared that “our new president is waging a war” on the values that define the country with “a credo of hate fear and suspicion of one another.”

“It’s been a heart-rending time to be both a woman and an immigrant,” said Ferrera, whose parents are from Honduras. “Our dignity, our character, our rights have been under attack.”

“A platform of hate and division assumed power yesterday,” she continued. “But the president is not America. His cabinet is not America. Congress is not America. We are America.”

She said opponents of Trump have to unite and not be distracted by disagreements: “Together we will fight, we will resist … we are every single one of us under attack. Our safety, our freedoms are on the chopping block and we are the only ones who can protect each other.”

Live coverage of Trump’s inauguration
The U.S. Capitol frames the backdrop over the stage during a rehearsal of President-elect Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony this week in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Donald Trump will be sworn in Friday during an inauguration that’s expected to draw between 700,000 and 900,000 people. Security officials said there are 63 demonstration groups, pro and con, also expected Friday. Follow our liveblog for updates through this afternoon’s inaugural parade.

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