Thousands in U.S. march underneath ‘Ban Off Our Our bodies’ banner for abortion rights

WASHINGTON, Might 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of abortion rights supporters rallied across the US on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court docket might soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide a half century in the past.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict will be a "summer time of rage" ignited by the Could 2 disclosure of a draft opinion displaying the courtroom's conservative majority able to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a woman's constitutional proper to terminate her being pregnant.

The courtroom's last ruling, which may return the power to ban abortion to state legislatures, is anticipated in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely restrict abortion virtually immediately ought to Roe be struck down. learn extra

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"If you can't choose whether or not you want to have a baby, if that is not a basic proper, then I don't know what is," mentioned Brita Van Rossum, 62, a panorama designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to affix the abortion-rights rally within the nation's capital, her first ever.

Protesters marching below the slogan "Bans Off Our Bodies" took to the streets from New York and Atlanta to Chicago and Los Angeles in a show of concern that Democrats hope will help galvanize support for his or her get together and blunt projected Republican beneficial properties within the November elections. learn extra

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

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

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

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

The rally appeared to remain otherwise peaceable, although no less than one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a security guard in Washington earlier in the day.

The temper was likewise energetic, and sometimes contentious, in New York City as hundreds of abortion rights supporters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, where they had been confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

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

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Law enforcement officials arrived to keep up space between the two groups as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The gang thinned out in early afternoon as rain fell over the city.

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

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old essential care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally underneath sunny skies, said abolishing the best to a authorized abortion might put lives at risk as women seek unsafe options.

Celebrity ladies's rights legal professional Gloria Allred instructed the crowd about her personal "again alley abortion" as a young woman when she became pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I nearly died," she recounted. "I used to be left in a tub in a pool of my very own blood, hemorrhaging."

U.S. Representative Sean Casten and his 15-year-old daughter, Audrey, were amongst several thousand abortion rights supporters who gathered at a park in Chicago.

Casten, whose district contains Chicago's western suburbs, advised Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court docket's conservative majority would take into account taking away the appropriate to an abortion and "condemn girls to this lesser standing."

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

Holding an indication that learn, "Stop Baby Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a recent public health graduate from Kennesaw State College, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

"Jesus had only a small group, but his message was more powerful," Marshall said.

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

Voters might be weighing a host of priorities such as inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' capacity to guard abortion access after legislation that may enshrine abortion rights in federal law failed. learn more

Lots of those marching on Saturday expressed concern that rolling again abortion rights would lead to an erosion of civil liberties generally.

"This is simply an affront to every part I consider that we're purported to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, stated. "If a girl has no management over what will occur to her own body, then we're again 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 Wealthy McKay in Atlanta; Writing by Ted Hesson and Steve Gorman; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

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