Thousands in U.S. march below ‘Ban Off Our Bodies’ banner for abortion rights

WASHINGTON, Might 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of abortion rights supporters rallied throughout the United States on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court may quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade determination 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 displaying the court's conservative majority able to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a woman's constitutional proper to terminate her being pregnant.

The court's final ruling, which might return the ability to ban abortion to state legislatures, is predicted in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely limit abortion nearly immediately ought to Roe be struck down. learn extra

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"If you can't choose whether you need to have a baby, if that's not a basic right, then I don't know what is," said Brita Van Rossum, 62, a landscape designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to join 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 present of shock that Democrats hope will help provoke support for his or her celebration and blunt projected Republican good points in the November elections. read extra

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, where a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 individuals massed on the Washington Monument and braved a light drizzle to march alongside the Nationwide Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court itself.

The rally erupted in shouts of "Disgrace" and "Bans off 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: "Finish abortion violence" and "Women's rights begin within the womb."

The encounter between the two sides grew tense at occasions. 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 on the crowd, and a few referred to as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to stay otherwise peaceful, though no less than 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, the place they have been confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

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

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Law enforcement officials arrived to keep up space between the two groups as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The group 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 Courtroom draft opinion "treats girls as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old vital care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally underneath sunny skies, said abolishing the best to a legal abortion could put lives at risk as ladies seek unsafe alternate options.

Superstar girls's rights attorney Gloria Allred instructed the crowd about her own "back alley abortion" as a younger lady when she grew to become pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I almost 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 amongst several thousand abortion rights supporters who gathered at a park in Chicago.

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

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

Holding a sign that read, "Cease Little one Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a latest public well being graduate from Kennesaw State University, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

"Jesus had just a small group, but his message was extra powerful," Marshall mentioned.

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

Voters will probably be weighing a host of priorities corresponding to inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' means to guard abortion entry after legislation that might enshrine abortion rights in federal law 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 usually.

"This is simply an affront to all the pieces I believe that we're presupposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, stated. "If a girl has no management over what will occur to her own body, then we're again in 1850 not 1950.

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Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington; Further 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

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.