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

WASHINGTON, Could 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of abortion rights supporters rallied across america on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court docket might soon 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 Might 2 disclosure of a draft opinion showing the court docket's conservative majority ready to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a girl's constitutional right to terminate her being pregnant.

The courtroom's last ruling, which might return the power to ban abortion to state legislatures, is expected in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely limit abortion virtually immediately ought to Roe be struck down. learn extra

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"If you cannot choose whether you want to have a child, if that's not a elementary proper, then I don't know what's," mentioned Brita Van Rossum, 62, a landscape designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to join the abortion-rights rally in 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 present of shock that Democrats hope will assist impress help for their party and blunt projected Republican positive factors in the November elections. read more

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, where a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 people massed at the Washington Monument and braved a light drizzle to march along the Nationwide 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 signs that learn: "Finish abortion violence" and "Women's rights begin within the womb."

The encounter between the two sides grew tense at instances. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go house!,” 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 some referred to as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to remain in any other case peaceable, although a minimum of one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a safety guard in Washington earlier in the day.

The mood was likewise energetic, and sometimes contentious, in New York City as hundreds of abortion rights supporters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, where they had been confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

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

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Cops arrived to take care of house between the two teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The group 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, stated that the leaked Supreme Courtroom draft opinion "treats girls as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old important care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally beneath sunny skies, mentioned abolishing the correct to a legal abortion may put lives at risk as girls search unsafe alternatives.

Superstar women's rights legal professional Gloria Allred instructed the group about her own "again alley abortion" as a younger girl when she became pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I almost died," she recounted. "I was left in a tub in a pool of my own blood, hemorrhaging."

U.S. Consultant Sean Casten and his 15-year-old daughter, Audrey, had been amongst several thousand abortion rights supporters who gathered at a park in Chicago.

Casten, whose district includes Chicago's western suburbs, informed Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Courtroom's conservative majority would think about taking away the right to an abortion and "condemn ladies to this lesser status."

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, greater 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 a sign that read, "Stop Child 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 extra powerful," Marshall mentioned.

Whereas the Supreme Court 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 can be weighing a bunch of priorities reminiscent of inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' ability to guard abortion access after legislation that may enshrine abortion rights in federal law failed. read more

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

"This is simply an affront to everything I believe that we're imagined to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a girl has no control 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 Rich 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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