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

WASHINGTON, Might 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of abortion rights supporters rallied across the USA on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court could quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision 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 court's conservative majority able to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a girl's constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy.

The court docket's closing ruling, which could 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 prohibit abortion virtually instantly should Roe be struck down. read extra

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"If you cannot select whether or not you wish to have a baby, if that's not a fundamental 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 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 show of concern that Democrats hope will help galvanize support for his or her get together and blunt projected Republican beneficial properties in the November elections. learn more

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, where a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 people massed at the Washington Monument and braved a light-weight drizzle to march along the National Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court docket itself.

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

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

The encounter between the 2 sides grew tense at times. 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. Because the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved on the crowd, and some referred to as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to stay in any other case peaceful, although 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 thousands 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 indication following the leaked Supreme Courtroom opinion suggesting the potential of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights determination, in Washington, U.S., May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Cops arrived to take care of space between the two groups 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, said that the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion "treats ladies as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old important care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally under sunny skies, said abolishing the suitable to a authorized abortion could put lives at risk as women search unsafe alternate options.

Movie star ladies's rights lawyer Gloria Allred advised the gang about her personal "again alley abortion" as a young lady when she grew to become pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I virtually died," she recounted. "I used to be left in a bath in a pool of my own blood, hemorrhaging."

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

Casten, whose district consists of Chicago's western suburbs, informed Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court's conservative majority would contemplate taking away the correct to an abortion and "condemn girls to this lesser standing."

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 close-by sidewalk.

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

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

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

Voters will be weighing a host of priorities corresponding to inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' capability to guard abortion entry after laws that might enshrine abortion rights in federal law failed. read extra

Lots of these marching on Saturday expressed worry that rolling back abortion rights would lead to an erosion of civil liberties usually.

"This is just an affront to the whole lot I consider that we're speculated to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, stated. "If a lady has no management over what will happen to her personal 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; Enhancing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

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