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

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

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

The courtroom's last ruling, which could 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 immediately should Roe be struck down. read more

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"If you cannot choose whether or not you need to have a baby, if that is not a elementary proper, then I don't know what is," mentioned Brita Van Rossum, 62, a panorama designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to affix the abortion-rights rally within 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 shock that Democrats hope will assist impress support for his or her social gathering and blunt projected Republican good points 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 on the Washington Monument and braved a lightweight drizzle to march along the Nationwide Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court itself.

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

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

The encounter between the two sides grew tense at times. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go house!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator within the head together with his poster after profanities were exchanged. Because the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved at the crowd, and a few called 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 security guard in Washington earlier within the day.

The mood was likewise energetic, and sometimes contentious, in New York Metropolis as 1000's 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 an illustration following the leaked Supreme Court docket opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, in Washington, U.S., May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Cops arrived to maintain space between the 2 teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The group 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, said that the leaked Supreme Courtroom draft opinion "treats ladies as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old essential care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally underneath sunny skies, stated abolishing the right to a legal abortion may put lives in danger as girls seek unsafe options.

Celebrity women's rights lawyer Gloria Allred informed the crowd about her own "back alley abortion" as a young woman when she became pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I nearly died," she recounted. "I used to be left in a tub 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 consider taking away the proper to an abortion and "condemn women to this lesser status."

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

Holding an indication that read, "Cease 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 only a small group, however his message was extra powerful," Marshall mentioned.

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

Voters will likely be weighing a host of priorities resembling inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' ability to protect abortion access after laws that would enshrine abortion rights in federal regulation failed. read more

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

"That is simply an affront to every thing I believe that we're presupposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, stated. "If a lady has no control over what will happen to her own body, 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 Wealthy 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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