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

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

The protests kicked off what organizers predict will probably be a "summer 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 girl's constitutional right to terminate her being pregnant.

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

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"If you can't choose whether you wish to have a baby, if that is not a elementary proper, then I don't know what is," stated Brita Van Rossum, 62, a panorama designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to join the abortion-rights rally within the nation's capital, her first ever.

Protesters marching below 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 outrage that Democrats hope will help galvanize assist for their celebration and blunt projected Republican good points within the November elections. read more

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, where a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 individuals massed at 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 bodies" as the marchers neared the marbled columns of the courthouse.

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

The encounter between the 2 sides grew tense at times. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go dwelling!,” 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 known as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to remain in any other case peaceable, though at the very least one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a security guard in Washington earlier in the day.

The mood was likewise energetic, and generally contentious, in New York City as 1000's of abortion rights supporters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, where they were confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners participate in an indication following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the potential of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights resolution, in Washington, U.S., Could 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Law enforcement officials arrived to maintain house between the two teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The crowd 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 girls as objects, as lower than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old essential care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally beneath sunny skies, said abolishing the appropriate to a legal abortion may put lives in danger as women seek unsafe alternate options.

Movie star ladies's rights attorney Gloria Allred advised the group about her personal "back alley abortion" as a young lady when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I virtually died," she recounted. "I used to be left in a bathtub in a pool of my very own blood, hemorrhaging."

U.S. Representative Sean Casten and his 15-year-old daughter, Audrey, have been among 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 docket's conservative majority would contemplate taking away the best to an abortion and "condemn women to this lesser standing."

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

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

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

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

Voters might be weighing a bunch of priorities reminiscent of inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' capacity to protect abortion entry after laws that may enshrine abortion rights in federal law failed. learn extra

Many of these marching on Saturday expressed worry that rolling back abortion rights would result in an erosion of civil liberties generally.

"That is simply an affront to all the things I consider that we're purported to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, stated. "If a girl has no control over what will occur to her own physique, then we're back 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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