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

WASHINGTON, Could 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of abortion rights supporters rallied throughout america on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court docket could soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nationwide a half century ago.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict will probably be a "summer time of rage" ignited by the Might 2 disclosure of a draft opinion exhibiting the court docket's conservative majority able to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a girl's constitutional proper to terminate her pregnancy.

The court's final ruling, which might return the facility 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 should Roe be struck down. learn more

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

Protesters marching under the slogan "Bans Off Our Bodies" took to the streets from New York and Atlanta to Chicago and Los Angeles in a present of concern that Democrats hope will help impress help for his or her party and blunt projected Republican features 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 at the Washington Monument and braved a light drizzle to march alongside the National Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court itself.

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

Surrounded by police was a gaggle of a few dozen counter-demonstrators holding indicators that learn: "Finish abortion violence" and "Girls's rights begin within the womb."

The encounter between the 2 sides grew tense at occasions. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go house!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator in the head along with his poster after profanities have been exchanged. As the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved at the crowd, and a few called out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to remain in any other case peaceful, 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 generally contentious, in New York Metropolis as hundreds of abortion rights supporters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, where they have been confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners take part in an illustration following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the potential for overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights determination, in Washington, U.S., Might 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Police officers arrived to maintain 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, stated that the leaked Supreme Court docket draft opinion "treats women as objects, as less than full human beings."

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

Superstar ladies's rights legal professional Gloria Allred instructed the gang about her own "back alley abortion" as a younger lady when she became pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I almost died," she recounted. "I was left in a bath in a pool of my very own blood, hemorrhaging."

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

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

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

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

"Jesus had just a small group, but his message was extra highly effective," Marshall said.

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

Voters will probably be weighing a bunch of priorities corresponding to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' means to guard abortion access after legislation that may enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. learn extra

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

"This is simply an affront to all the things I imagine that we're presupposed 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 back in 1850 not 1950.

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Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington; Further 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; Modifying by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.