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

WASHINGTON, Might 14 (Reuters) - 1000's of abortion rights supporters rallied throughout the US on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court might soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nationwide a half century in the past.

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

The court's final ruling, which might 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 nearly immediately should Roe be struck down. learn extra

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"If you cannot choose whether you wish to have a baby, if that's not a fundamental right, then I do not know what is," stated 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 Our bodies" took to the streets from New York and Atlanta to Chicago and Los Angeles in a present of concern that Democrats hope will help galvanize help for his or her party and blunt projected Republican features in the November elections. learn extra

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, the place a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 folks massed at the Washington Monument and braved a light-weight drizzle to march alongside the Nationwide Mall previous the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court itself.

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

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

The encounter between the 2 sides grew tense at occasions. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go home!,” 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 a few called out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to remain in any other case peaceful, although no less than 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 Metropolis as 1000's 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 take part in a demonstration following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, in Washington, U.S., May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Cops arrived to take care of area between the 2 groups as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The crowd 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 Court draft opinion "treats girls as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old essential care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally below sunny skies, said abolishing the fitting to a authorized abortion might put lives in danger as women search unsafe alternate options.

Movie star women's rights lawyer Gloria Allred told the crowd about her personal "again alley abortion" as a young woman when she grew to become pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before 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 several 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 docket's conservative majority would contemplate taking away the precise to an abortion and "condemn women to this lesser standing."

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, greater than 400 individuals had assembled in a small park in entrance of the state capitol, whereas a few dozen counter-protesters stood on a nearby 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 just a small group, but his message was more highly effective," Marshall stated.

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

Voters will likely be weighing a number of priorities corresponding to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' ability to protect abortion access after laws that may enshrine abortion rights in federal regulation failed. learn more

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

"That is simply an affront to every little thing I imagine that we're alleged to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a girl has no control over what is going to happen to her own physique, 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 Wealthy 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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