1000’s in U.S. march underneath ‘Ban Off Our Our bodies’ banner for abortion rights

WASHINGTON, Might 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of abortion rights supporters rallied throughout the USA 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 in the past.

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

The court's closing ruling, which may return the ability to ban abortion to state legislatures, is anticipated in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely prohibit abortion nearly immediately should Roe be struck down. learn more

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"If you cannot select whether you want to have a child, if that's not a fundamental proper, then I don't know what is," said 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 beneath the slogan "Bans Off Our Bodies" took to the streets from New York and Atlanta to Chicago and Los Angeles in a present of shock that Democrats hope will assist galvanize help for his or her occasion and blunt projected Republican positive factors within the November elections. read extra

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, the place a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 folks massed on the Washington Monument and braved a lightweight drizzle to march along the National Mall previous the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Courtroom 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 gaggle of some dozen counter-demonstrators holding signs that learn: "End abortion violence" and "Ladies's rights begin in the womb."

The encounter between the two sides grew tense at instances. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go dwelling!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator in 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 peaceful, although at the least one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a security guard in Washington earlier within the day.

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

Abortion rights campaigners participate in an illustration following the leaked Supreme Court docket opinion suggesting the opportunity of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights determination, in Washington, U.S., Might 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Cops arrived to take care of space between the 2 teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The group 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, mentioned that the leaked Supreme Courtroom draft opinion "treats ladies as objects, as lower than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old crucial care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally under sunny skies, said abolishing the suitable to a legal abortion could put lives in danger as women seek unsafe alternatives.

Celebrity girls's rights attorney Gloria Allred told the group about her personal "back alley abortion" as a young woman when she became pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I nearly died," she recounted. "I was left in a bath in a pool of my 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 contains Chicago's western suburbs, informed Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court docket's conservative majority would take into account taking away the appropriate to an abortion and "condemn ladies to this lesser standing."

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

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

"Jesus had only a small group, but his message was extra highly effective," Marshall stated.

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

Voters shall be weighing a bunch of priorities similar to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' ability to protect abortion entry after laws that may enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. read more

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

"That is simply an affront to every part I believe that we're purported to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a woman has no management over what will happen to her own physique, then we're back 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 Wealthy 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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