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

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of abortion rights supporters rallied throughout the USA on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Courtroom might quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion nationwide a half century ago.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict will probably be a "summer time of rage" ignited by the Could 2 disclosure of a draft opinion showing the courtroom's conservative majority ready to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a girl's constitutional right to terminate her being pregnant.

The court's ultimate ruling, which might return the facility to ban abortion to state legislatures, is expected in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely prohibit abortion virtually instantly ought to Roe be struck down. read more

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"If you can't select whether you wish to have a baby, if that is not a elementary proper, then I do not know what's," mentioned 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 Our bodies" took to the streets from New York and Atlanta to Chicago and Los Angeles in a present of outrage that Democrats hope will assist provoke support for his or her get together and blunt projected Republican positive factors 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 on 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 "Shame" and "Bans off our bodies" as the marchers neared the marbled columns of the courthouse.

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

The encounter between the two sides grew tense at times. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go home!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator in the head with his poster after profanities were exchanged. As 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 peaceable, although no less than 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 Metropolis as thousands 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 indication following the leaked Supreme Courtroom opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights resolution, in Washington, U.S., Could 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Police officers arrived to keep up area between the 2 groups 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 women as objects, as lower than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old important care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally underneath sunny skies, mentioned abolishing the precise to a legal abortion might put lives in danger as women seek unsafe options.

Celebrity girls's rights lawyer Gloria Allred informed the gang about her own "again alley abortion" as a younger 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 bathtub in a pool of my very own blood, hemorrhaging."

U.S. Consultant Sean Casten and his 15-year-old daughter, Audrey, were 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 Courtroom's conservative majority would contemplate taking away the fitting to an abortion and "condemn ladies to this lesser standing."

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

Holding an indication that learn, "Cease Baby Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a recent public health graduate from Kennesaw State College, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

"Jesus had just a small group, but his message was more 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 difficulty will play out within the coming elections.

Voters will likely be weighing a host of priorities akin to inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' ability to guard abortion entry after legislation that may enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. read extra

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

"This is simply an affront to everything I consider that we're presupposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, said. "If a woman has no management over what will occur to her personal body, then we're back in 1850 not 1950.

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Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington; Additional 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 Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.