1000’s in U.S. march below ‘Ban Off Our Our bodies’ banner for abortion rights

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

The protests kicked off what organizers predict can be a "summer time of rage" ignited by the Might 2 disclosure of a draft opinion exhibiting the court's conservative majority able to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a lady's constitutional right to terminate her being pregnant.

The court's remaining 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 restrict abortion nearly instantly should Roe be struck down. read more

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"If you can't choose whether or not you need to have a child, if that's not a elementary right, then I do not know what's," stated 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 underneath 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 concern that Democrats hope will help provoke support for their social gathering and blunt projected Republican gains in the November elections. read extra

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, the place a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 individuals massed at the Washington Monument and braved a light 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" because the marchers neared the marbled columns of the courthouse.

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

The encounter between the 2 sides grew tense at occasions. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go dwelling!,” 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 at the crowd, and some referred to as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to remain otherwise peaceable, though a minimum of one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a safety guard in Washington earlier within the day.

The mood was likewise energetic, and sometimes contentious, in New York City as 1000's of abortion rights supporters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, the place they were confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners take part in an illustration following the leaked Supreme Court 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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Police officers arrived to keep up area between the 2 groups as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The crowd 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 girls as objects, as lower than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old critical care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally beneath sunny skies, stated abolishing the precise to a legal abortion could put lives in danger as women search unsafe options.

Movie star girls's rights legal professional Gloria Allred informed the group about her personal "again alley abortion" as a young girl when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I virtually died," she recounted. "I used to be left in a bathtub in a pool of my own blood, hemorrhaging."

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

Casten, whose district contains Chicago's western suburbs, told Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court's conservative majority would take into account taking away the right to an abortion and "condemn women to this lesser status."

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

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

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

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 within the coming elections.

Voters will likely be weighing a host of priorities akin to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' means to protect abortion access after legislation that may enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. read extra

Many of these marching on Saturday expressed worry that rolling back abortion rights would result in an erosion of civil liberties usually.

"This is simply an affront to the whole lot I consider that we're presupposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, said. "If a lady has no management over what's going to happen to her personal physique, then we're again 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 Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing by Ted Hesson and Steve Gorman; Enhancing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.