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

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of abortion rights supporters rallied across the US on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Courtroom may quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide a half century ago.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict will likely be a "summer season of rage" ignited by the Could 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 pregnancy.

The courtroom's final ruling, which could return the ability to ban abortion to state legislatures, is expected in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely restrict abortion nearly instantly ought to Roe be struck down. read extra

Register

"If you can't select whether you wish to have a baby, if that is not a fundamental right, then I do not know what's," 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 concern that Democrats hope will assist impress support for his or her get together and blunt projected Republican beneficial properties in the November elections. learn more

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, the place a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 people massed at the Washington Monument and braved a lightweight drizzle to march alongside the Nationwide Mall previous the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court 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 group of a few dozen counter-demonstrators holding indicators that learn: "Finish abortion violence" and "Girls's rights begin in the womb."

The encounter between the two sides grew tense at occasions. 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 called out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to stay otherwise peaceable, though 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 generally contentious, in New York City 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 an illustration following the leaked Supreme Court docket opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, in Washington, U.S., Might 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

Learn More

Cops arrived to take care of house between the two groups as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The gang 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, mentioned that the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion "treats women as objects, as lower than full human beings."

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

Movie star girls'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 before Roe. "I nearly died," she recounted. "I was left in a tub in a pool of my very own blood, hemorrhaging."

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

Casten, whose district consists of Chicago's western suburbs, informed Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court docket's conservative majority would take into account taking away the right to an abortion and "condemn girls to this lesser status."

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

Holding an indication that learn, "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 mentioned.

Whereas the Supreme Court docket 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 can be weighing a number of priorities equivalent to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' ability to protect abortion entry after laws that might enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. learn extra

A lot of those marching on Saturday expressed fear that rolling again abortion rights would result in an erosion of civil liberties typically.

"That is simply an affront to all the pieces I imagine that we're purported to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, said. "If a girl has no management over what will occur to her personal physique, then we're again in 1850 not 1950.

Register

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; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.