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

WASHINGTON, Could 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of abortion rights supporters rallied throughout the United States on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court docket may quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade choice 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 Might 2 disclosure of a draft opinion showing the courtroom's conservative majority able to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a woman's constitutional right to terminate her being pregnant.

The court's remaining 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 restrict abortion almost immediately ought to Roe be struck down. learn more

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"If you cannot choose whether or not you need to have a baby, if that is not a fundamental proper, then I don't know what is," said Brita Van Rossum, 62, a landscape designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to join the abortion-rights rally within 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 concern that Democrats hope will help galvanize support for his or her celebration and blunt projected Republican good points in the November elections. read more

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, the place a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 folks massed on the Washington Monument and braved a lightweight drizzle to march along the National Mall previous the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court docket 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 group of a few dozen counter-demonstrators holding indicators that read: "End abortion violence" and "Girls's rights start within the womb."

The encounter between the two sides grew tense at occasions. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go home!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator in the head along with his poster after profanities had been 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 peaceful, although not less than one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a security guard in Washington earlier in 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 a demonstration 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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Police officers arrived to take care of house between the two 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 lower than full human beings."

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

Celebrity women's rights lawyer Gloria Allred told the group about her own "again alley abortion" as a young woman when she grew to become pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I almost died," she recounted. "I was left in a tub in a pool of my very 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, told Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court docket's conservative majority would take into account taking away the precise to an abortion and "condemn girls to this lesser standing."

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

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

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

While the Supreme Court 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 can be weighing a host of priorities such as inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' capability to protect abortion access after laws that may enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. read extra

A lot of these marching on Saturday expressed concern that rolling again abortion rights would lead to an erosion of civil liberties typically.

"This is simply an affront to every thing I consider that we're presupposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a lady has no control over what is going to happen to her personal physique, then we're back 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; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

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