Thousands in U.S. march below ‘Ban Off Our Bodies’ banner for abortion rights

WASHINGTON, Might 14 (Reuters) - 1000's of abortion rights supporters rallied throughout the United States on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court may quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nationwide a half century ago.

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

The court docket's final ruling, which may 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 nearly instantly ought to Roe be struck down. read extra

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

Protesters marching beneath 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 provoke assist for their occasion 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 people massed on the Washington Monument and braved a lightweight drizzle to march along the National Mall previous the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Courtroom itself.

The rally erupted in shouts of "Disgrace" 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 "Ladies's rights start within the womb."

The encounter between the 2 sides grew tense at instances. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go dwelling!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator in the head with his poster after profanities had 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 stay in any other case peaceable, although no less than 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 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 take part in a demonstration following the leaked Supreme Court docket opinion suggesting the possibility 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 take care of house between the 2 teams 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, mentioned that the leaked Supreme Court docket draft opinion "treats girls as objects, as lower than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old crucial care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally below sunny skies, mentioned abolishing the suitable to a legal abortion may put lives in danger as ladies seek unsafe options.

Celeb ladies's rights attorney Gloria Allred told the crowd about her personal "back alley abortion" as a young lady when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I virtually 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, were amongst a number of thousand abortion rights supporters who gathered at a park in Chicago.

Casten, whose district consists of Chicago's western suburbs, told Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court's conservative majority would contemplate taking away the proper 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, while a couple of dozen counter-protesters stood on a close-by sidewalk.

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

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

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

Voters shall be weighing a bunch of priorities such as inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' means to protect abortion entry after laws that may enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. learn extra

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

"That is simply an affront to all the things I believe that we're purported to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, stated. "If a lady has no control over what's going to happen 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 Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing by Ted Hesson and Steve Gorman; Modifying by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

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