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

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of abortion rights supporters rallied across america on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Courtroom might soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion nationwide a half century ago.

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

The courtroom's ultimate ruling, which could return the ability to ban abortion to state legislatures, is predicted in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely limit abortion almost instantly should Roe be struck down. read extra

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"If you cannot select whether you want to have a baby, if that is not a fundamental right, then I do not know what is," said Brita Van Rossum, 62, a panorama 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 Bodies" took to the streets from New York and Atlanta to Chicago and Los Angeles in a show of shock that Democrats hope will help impress help 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 individuals massed on the Washington Monument and braved a light drizzle to march along the Nationwide Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Courtroom 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 gaggle of a few dozen counter-demonstrators holding indicators that read: "Finish 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 with his poster after profanities have been exchanged. Because the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved on the crowd, and some known as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to stay in any other case peaceful, though at least 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 City as thousands of abortion rights supporters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, where they were confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners take part in a demonstration following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the potential for overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights determination, in Washington, U.S., Might 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Law enforcement officials arrived to keep up space between the two teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The gang 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 Courtroom draft opinion "treats women as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old important care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally beneath sunny skies, mentioned abolishing the right to a authorized abortion may put lives in danger as women search unsafe options.

Celebrity ladies's rights lawyer Gloria Allred informed the crowd about her own "back alley abortion" as a younger woman when she became 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 very own blood, hemorrhaging."

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

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

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

Holding an indication that read, "Stop Little one Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a latest public health graduate from Kennesaw State College, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

"Jesus had only a small group, however his message was more powerful," Marshall stated.

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

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

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

"That is just an affront to every part I consider that we're supposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a girl has no management over what will occur to her personal body, then we're back in 1850 not 1950.

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Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington; Further 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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