Hundreds in U.S. march below ‘Ban Off Our Bodies’ banner for abortion rights

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - 1000's of abortion rights supporters rallied across america on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court might quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nationwide a half century ago.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict shall be a "summer of rage" ignited by the Could 2 disclosure of a draft opinion displaying the courtroom's conservative majority able to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a girl's constitutional proper to terminate her pregnancy.

The court docket's closing ruling, which may 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 restrict abortion nearly instantly ought to Roe be struck down. read more

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"If you cannot select whether or not you need to have a baby, if that is not a elementary right, then I don't know what's," 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 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 concern that Democrats hope will assist provoke support for their celebration and blunt projected Republican positive aspects within 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 lightweight drizzle to march along the National Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court itself.

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

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

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

The rally appeared to stay otherwise peaceable, although at least one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a safety guard in Washington earlier within the day.

The temper was likewise energetic, and typically contentious, in New York Metropolis as thousands of abortion rights supporters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, the place they have been confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners participate in a demonstration following the leaked Supreme Courtroom opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, in Washington, U.S., Could 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Cops arrived to maintain area between the 2 teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The crowd thinned out in early afternoon as rain fell over 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 women as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old vital care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally beneath sunny skies, stated abolishing the proper to a legal abortion may put lives at risk as women search unsafe alternate options.

Superstar ladies's rights attorney Gloria Allred informed the crowd about her personal "back alley abortion" as a young lady when she grew to become pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I almost 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, were amongst 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 Courtroom's conservative majority would think about taking away the correct to an abortion and "condemn women to this lesser status."

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

Holding a sign that read, "Stop Baby Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a latest public health graduate from Kennesaw State University, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

"Jesus had just a small group, but his message was more powerful," Marshall mentioned.

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

Voters will probably be weighing a bunch of priorities akin to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' ability to protect abortion access after legislation that may enshrine abortion rights in federal law failed. learn more

A lot of these marching on Saturday expressed concern that rolling again abortion rights would result in an erosion of civil liberties generally.

"That is just an affront to every little thing I imagine that we're imagined to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, stated. "If a woman has no management over what is going to happen 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; Modifying by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

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