Protesters rally outside US supreme court justices’ homes ahead of pro-choice marches

Pro-choice demonstrators continue to turn up outside the homes of supreme court justices, with the latest target being conservative Amy Coney Barrett, who signed on to a majority draft opinion that was leaked to reveal an intention to overturn the constitutional right to seek an abortion in the US.

"The right to your own body - to do what you want with your own body - is the most personal freedom you can have," one protester said from among a group wearing long red "handmaid" capes and white bonnets earlier this week to symbolize forced childbearing, as members of the Virginia state police watched nearby.

Several organizations, led by Planned Parenthood and the Women's March, are preparing for a nationwide day of pro-choice marches on Saturday.

Protests have been occurring intermittently since the 2 May leak of the draft opinion that sent shockwaves across America by indicating five of the nine justices favor overturning the landmark supreme court decision in Roe v Wade that paved the way for legal abortion across the US in 1973.

Protesters have so far gathered outside the residences in the Washington DC area of Samuel Alito, who wrote the scorching draft opinion, and Brett Kavanaugh, as well as Barrett and the chief justice, John Roberts, who did not sign on to the draft opinion, unlike the other three and Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch.

The court's final decision on Roe, which is wrapped up in a pivotal Mississippi case before the court, Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health, is expected next month.

Meanwhile Republican lawmakers are urging Merrick Garland, the US attorney general, to employ a 72-year-old federal law that outlaws demonstrating outside judges' residences.