Hundreds in U.S. march beneath ‘Ban Off Our Bodies’ banner for abortion rights

WASHINGTON, Might 14 (Reuters) - 1000's of abortion rights supporters rallied across america on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court docket might quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nationwide a half century in the past.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict might be a "summer season of rage" ignited by the Might 2 disclosure of a draft opinion displaying the courtroom's conservative majority able to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a girl's constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy.

The court's ultimate ruling, which could return the ability to ban abortion to state legislatures, is predicted in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely limit abortion nearly instantly ought to Roe be struck down. read extra

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"If you cannot select whether you wish to have a child, if that is not a elementary right, then I don't know what is," stated Brita Van Rossum, 62, a panorama designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to hitch the abortion-rights rally within the nation's capital, her first ever.

Protesters marching underneath the slogan "Bans Off Our Bodies" took to the streets from New York and Atlanta to Chicago and Los Angeles in a show of shock that Democrats hope will assist galvanize support for their social gathering and blunt projected Republican positive factors in the November elections. read extra

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, where a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 individuals massed at the Washington Monument and braved a light drizzle to march alongside the National Mall previous the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court docket itself.

The rally erupted in shouts of "Shame" and "Bans off our bodies" because the marchers neared the marbled columns of the courthouse.

Surrounded by police was a bunch of some dozen counter-demonstrators holding indicators that learn: "End abortion violence" and "Women's rights begin in the womb."

The encounter between the two sides grew tense at occasions. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go home!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator within the head together with his poster after profanities have been exchanged. As the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved on the crowd, and some called out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to stay otherwise peaceful, though at least one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a safety guard in Washington earlier in the day.

The temper was likewise energetic, and generally contentious, in New York Metropolis as 1000's of abortion rights supporters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, the place they have been confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners participate in an illustration following the leaked Supreme Court docket opinion suggesting the opportunity of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights choice, in Washington, U.S., Could 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Police officers arrived to take care of space between the two teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The group thinned out in early afternoon as rain fell over the town.

Elizabeth Holtzman, an 80-year-old former congresswoman who represented New York from 1973 to 1981, said that the leaked Supreme Court docket draft opinion "treats women as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old vital care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally below sunny skies, said abolishing the appropriate to a authorized abortion may put lives at risk as women search unsafe options.

Superstar girls's rights legal professional Gloria Allred informed the group about her own "back alley abortion" as a young lady when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I almost died," she recounted. "I used to be left in a bathtub in a pool of my own blood, hemorrhaging."

U.S. Consultant Sean Casten and his 15-year-old daughter, Audrey, had been amongst a number of thousand abortion rights supporters who gathered at a park in Chicago.

Casten, whose district includes Chicago's western suburbs, advised Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court's conservative majority would contemplate taking away the appropriate to an abortion and "condemn ladies to this lesser standing."

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, greater than 400 individuals had assembled in a small park in front of the state capitol, while a few dozen counter-protesters stood on a nearby sidewalk.

Holding a sign that read, "Cease Child Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a latest public health graduate from Kennesaw State College, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

"Jesus had just a small group, however his message was more highly effective," Marshall mentioned.

Whereas the Supreme Court leak thrust abortion again to the forefront of U.S. politics, it was unclear how the problem will play out in the coming elections.

Voters shall be weighing a bunch of priorities reminiscent of inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' capacity to guard abortion entry after laws that may enshrine abortion rights in federal regulation failed. learn extra

Many of those marching on Saturday expressed worry that rolling back abortion rights would lead to an erosion of civil liberties typically.

"That is just an affront to all the pieces I imagine that we're supposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a girl has no management over what will happen to her personal physique, then we're back in 1850 not 1950.

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Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington; Extra reporting by Eric Cox in Chicago, Maria Caspani in New York, Costas Pitas in Los Angeles and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing by Ted Hesson and Steve Gorman; Enhancing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.