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

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

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

The court'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 prohibit abortion nearly immediately ought to Roe be struck down. learn more

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"If you can't select whether you want to have a baby, if that's not a elementary right, then I don't know what is," mentioned Brita Van Rossum, 62, a landscape designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to hitch the abortion-rights rally within the nation's capital, her first ever.

Protesters marching underneath 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 assist impress assist for his or her celebration and blunt projected Republican good points within 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 previous the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court docket itself.

The rally erupted in shouts of "Shame" and "Bans off our our bodies" because 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 dwelling!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator within the head along with his poster after profanities were exchanged. Because the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved on the crowd, and a few called out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to stay in any other case peaceful, though a minimum of one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a security guard in Washington earlier within the day.

The temper was likewise energetic, and generally contentious, in New York Metropolis as hundreds 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 a demonstration following the leaked Supreme Courtroom opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, in Washington, U.S., Might 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Law enforcement officials arrived to keep up space between the 2 teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The gang 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 girls as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old vital care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally underneath sunny skies, said abolishing the best to a legal abortion might put lives in danger as ladies seek unsafe alternate options.

Celebrity ladies's rights lawyer Gloria Allred informed the crowd about her own "back alley abortion" as a young woman when she grew to become pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I nearly 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 amongst several thousand abortion rights supporters who gathered at a park in Chicago.

Casten, whose district includes Chicago's western suburbs, advised Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court docket's conservative majority would contemplate taking away the appropriate to an abortion and "condemn women to this lesser standing."

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

Holding an indication that read, "Stop Child Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a current 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 stated.

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

Voters will be weighing a bunch of priorities reminiscent of inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' capability to protect abortion access after laws that may enshrine abortion rights in federal regulation failed. learn extra

Lots of these marching on Saturday expressed worry that rolling again abortion rights would lead to an erosion of civil liberties generally.

"That is simply an affront to the whole lot I believe that we're purported to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a woman has no control over what will happen to her personal body, then we're again 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; Enhancing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.