200 events across all 50 states. rallies are in response to a leaked u.s. supreme court draft opinion revealing a majority of justices poised to strike down roe v. wade. if overturned, constitutional protections for abortion rights would be likely eliminated in 26 states. we have reporters covering this in several key cities today. cnn s shimon prokupecz is live in the nation s capital. paulo sandoval is covering the event in new york and nadia romero. and the rally began just near the washington monument. there on the mall. later protesters will be marching to the u.s. supreme court. tell us what you re seeing right now? reporter: yeah, so that is the expectation that at around 2:00 the thousands of people expected here, their permitted for about 17,000 people. at around 2:00 they are expected to march to the supreme court. but right now what is going to take place here this morning, starting here shortly, are speakers. speakers are going to take the stage and we re seeing
supreme court will overturn roe. significant for them and that is why they are here. and at around 2:00 the thousands that will be gathered here will march toward the supreme court. thank you so much. let s go north noun to new york. polo sandoval is there. it looks like a sizable crowd where you are as well. reporter: it is, fred. here in brooklyn, this is actually a mobile protest that will get moving hopefully in the next hour according to organizers. and as we look over a large crowd here at the park in brooklyn. you could see just a number of participants that we expected. also many people traveling here from the region. the plan is to get mobile very soon here. basically the protests are expected to march over the brooklyn bridge and assemble in lower manhattan. we ll hear from speakers like what we saw from shimon, or his preview from our colleague shimon. the key here for folks participating is not just taking a stand against that opinion