Hundreds in U.S. march beneath ‘Ban Off 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 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 probably be a "summer season of rage" ignited by the Might 2 disclosure of a draft opinion showing the courtroom's conservative majority able to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a girl's constitutional proper to terminate her being pregnant.

The courtroom's ultimate ruling, which could return the facility to ban abortion to state legislatures, is anticipated in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely limit abortion almost immediately should Roe be struck down. read more

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"If you cannot select whether or not you need to have a baby, if that is not a basic right, 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 underneath the slogan "Bans Off 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 their occasion and blunt projected Republican beneficial properties within the November elections. read 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 lightweight drizzle to march along the National Mall previous the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court docket itself.

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

Surrounded by police was a bunch of some dozen counter-demonstrators holding indicators that read: "End abortion violence" and "Women's rights begin within 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 within the head with his poster after profanities have been exchanged. As the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved at the crowd, and some called out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

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

The temper was likewise energetic, and sometimes contentious, in New York City as 1000's 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 take part in a demonstration following the leaked Supreme Court docket opinion suggesting the potential of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights resolution, in Washington, U.S., May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Law enforcement officials arrived to keep up area between the two groups as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The gang 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, mentioned that the leaked Supreme Courtroom draft opinion "treats ladies as objects, as lower than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old vital care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally under sunny skies, said abolishing the proper to a legal abortion may put lives at risk as ladies seek unsafe alternatives.

Celebrity women's rights attorney Gloria Allred told the group about her personal "back alley abortion" as a young lady when she grew to become pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I virtually died," she recounted. "I was left in a bathtub in a pool of my own blood, hemorrhaging."

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

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

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, greater than 400 people had assembled in a small park in entrance 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 latest public health graduate from Kennesaw State University, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

"Jesus had only a small group, but his message was more powerful," Marshall said.

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 within the coming elections.

Voters might be weighing a bunch of priorities such as inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' capability to guard abortion entry after legislation that might enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. read more

Many of these marching on Saturday expressed concern that rolling back abortion rights would lead to an erosion of civil liberties usually.

"This is simply an affront to all the things I imagine that we're speculated to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, said. "If a woman has no management 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; 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

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