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

WASHINGTON, Could 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of abortion rights supporters rallied across america on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court docket may soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nationwide a half century in the past.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict can be a "summer season 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 pregnancy.

The court's ultimate ruling, which could return the ability to ban abortion to state legislatures, is anticipated in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely limit abortion nearly instantly should Roe be struck down. learn more

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"If you can't choose whether or not you wish to have a baby, if that's not a elementary right, then I do not know what's," said 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 show of concern that Democrats hope will assist galvanize support for his or her social gathering and blunt projected Republican positive factors within the November elections. learn more

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

The rally erupted in shouts of "Shame" and "Bans off our our bodies" because 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 start in 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. As the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved at the crowd, and some called out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to stay in any other case peaceful, though at the very least one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a security guard in Washington earlier in the day.

The mood was likewise energetic, and generally contentious, in New York Metropolis as thousands 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 Courtroom opinion suggesting the potential of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, in Washington, U.S., Might 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Police officers arrived to maintain house between the 2 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 Court docket 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, mentioned abolishing the right to a legal abortion could put lives at risk as girls seek unsafe options.

Celebrity girls's rights lawyer Gloria Allred informed the group about her personal "back alley abortion" as a younger lady when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I nearly died," she recounted. "I used to be left in a bathtub in a pool of my very own blood, hemorrhaging."

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

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

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, more than 400 people had assembled in a small park in front of the state capitol, whereas a couple of dozen counter-protesters stood on a close-by sidewalk.

Holding an indication that learn, "Cease Little one 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 highly effective," Marshall said.

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 within the coming elections.

Voters shall be weighing a number of priorities corresponding to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' means to guard abortion access after legislation that may enshrine abortion rights in federal law failed. learn extra

A lot of these marching on Saturday expressed worry that rolling back abortion rights would lead to an erosion of civil liberties typically.

"That is just an affront to every part I consider that we're presupposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a woman has no control over what will occur 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 Wealthy 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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