A group of pro-Palestinian, anti-abortion activists disrupted an abortion rights rally outside the Supreme Court on Thursday, at which the leaders of multiple Jewish organizations were present.

The rally, organized by Planned Parenthood in anticipation of a ruling in the case Medina v. Planned Parenthood, included representation from the National Council of Jewish Women, Women of Reform Judaism and the Union for Reform Judaism. Rallygoers were forced to an alternative indoor location after counterprotesters became aggressive and disrupted the rally, attendees told Jewish Insider.

Video of the start of the counterprotest reviewed by JI, as well as accounts from NCJW’s chief of staff, Jake Green, and another witness who spoke to JI, shows two activists chanting “ceasefire in Gaza and the womb” on the side of the Planned Parenthood group.

“It was something I haven’t experienced before, which was really quite surprising to be there and see the like anti-abortion protesters show up, and specifically hear them chanting things like ‘Ceasefire in Gaza, ceasefire in the womb,’” Green said. “It was [strange] to see them in keffiyehs doing that.”

Green and the other witness said that the small group of activists repeatedly attempted to push their way into the Planned Parenthood group. At one point, a larger group of counterprotesters arrived simultaneously, bringing the size of that group up to around 20, and the counterprotesters aggressively pushed their way into the Planned Parenthood group of around 40, knocking at least one person over.

Rabbi Liz Hirsch, the CEO of Women of Reform Judaism, said that the counterprotest group had been getting progressively louder in its drumming and chanting, to the point that the Planned Parenthood group could not even hear its own speakers.

Police attempted to separate the two crowds, Green and the other witness said, and the Planned Parenthood group decamped to an alternative indoor location a few blocks away.

“[Thursday’s] rally at the Supreme Court should have been about standing up for health care access in the face of a devastating decision. Instead, we were surrounded by coordinated anti abortion protesters who were shouting, ‘cease fire in Gaza, cease fire in the womb,’” Sheila Katz, NCJW’s CEO told JI. “It escalated, and it was a moment that left me shaken, and some of us shaken, and I’m grateful for the swift response from law enforcement and Planned Parenthood’s strong security protocols. “

Green, who said he’s attended many such rallies at the Supreme Court, described the counterprotesters as particularly aggressive: “I’ve never seen it so agitational in this way, where they were really just violently trying to push their way into our protest and drown us out and be aggressive in that way. It was quite shocking.”

Hirsch emphasized that the counterprotesters’ aggressive behavior came in spite of the fact that the court had delivered the ruling they had been hoping for, allowing states to exclude Planned Parenthood from Medicaid funding.

“What happened today at the Supreme Court was unacceptable in terms of our physical safety,” Hirsch said. “No one should have to feel unsafe in order to stand up for their values.”

Green said that at least one of the counterprotestors was holding a megaphone emblazoned with the logo of the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, a group active primarily in Washington, D.C. that couches its opposition to abortion in leftist principles. Photos from the group’s social media show activists affiliated with the group crowding around and pushing into the Planned Parenthood group outside the Supreme Court on Thursday.

“Planned Parenthood has got to go!” the group’s caption on social media reads.

When the Planned Parenthood group arrived at its backup location, a church near the Supreme Court, both Katz and Hirsch delivered remarks.

Katz said she discussed the fact that “it’s a scary time to be Jewish in America, and it’s a scary time to be a woman in America,” and discussed the fear that the Jewish community in the U.S. and particularly Washington is feeling following the killings of Israeli Embassy staffers Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky outside the Capital Jewish Museum.

“I knew Sarah and I shared about both of them and what just happened in the Jewish community, how scary and hard it was,” Katz said. “And I also shared with them how scary and hard it was to go back to the Capital Jewish Museum, which I did a week later. … I brought it up because I said, ‘It’s really important that we keep being proud of the identities that we have, even when people want to hurt us.’”

Hirsch said, “when we arrived at the church, as a rabbi and a faith leader, I felt really moved and inspired by the fact that we were able to find this sanctuary, this safe space in a house of worship.”

“While I shared a few of the remarks that I was going to make about our response, as Women of Reform Judaism, to this decision, I also wanted to make sure that we helped people feel safe again and re-center themselves. So I offered a prayer and we sang together,” Hirsch continued.

Planned Parenthood did not immediately respond to a request for comment.