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

WASHINGTON, Could 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of abortion rights supporters rallied across america on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court docket may quickly 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 likely be a "summer of rage" ignited by the Could 2 disclosure of a draft opinion showing the courtroom's conservative majority ready to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a woman's constitutional proper to terminate her being pregnant.

The court's final ruling, which may return the ability to ban abortion to state legislatures, is anticipated in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely prohibit abortion almost instantly should Roe be struck down. read extra

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

Protesters marching under the slogan "Bans Off Our Our bodies" took to the streets from New York and Atlanta to Chicago and Los Angeles in a present of shock that Democrats hope will assist galvanize help for his or her celebration and blunt projected Republican positive aspects within the November elections. read extra

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, where a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 people 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 "Shame" and "Bans off our bodies" as the marchers neared the marbled columns of the courthouse.

Surrounded by police was a bunch of a few dozen counter-demonstrators holding signs that read: "End abortion violence" and "Ladies's rights start 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 within the head with his poster after profanities had been exchanged. Because the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved at the crowd, and a few known as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to stay in any other case peaceful, although at least one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a safety guard in Washington earlier within 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, the place they have been confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

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

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Law enforcement officials arrived to maintain area between the two groups as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The group thinned out in early afternoon as rain fell over 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 lower than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old crucial care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally beneath sunny skies, said abolishing the precise to a legal abortion may put lives in danger as women seek unsafe alternate options.

Celeb women's rights legal professional Gloria Allred told the group about her own "again alley abortion" as a young girl when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I almost died," she recounted. "I was left in a bathtub in a pool of my own blood, hemorrhaging."

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

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

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

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

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

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

Voters shall be weighing a bunch of priorities similar to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' capability to guard abortion access after laws that may enshrine abortion rights in federal regulation failed. read more

A lot of those marching on Saturday expressed concern that rolling back abortion rights would result in an erosion of civil liberties typically.

"This is simply an affront to the whole lot I believe that we're alleged to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, said. "If a woman has no management over what is going to occur to her personal physique, then we're back in 1850 not 1950.

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Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington; Additional 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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