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

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of abortion rights supporters rallied across the US on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court could quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nationwide a half century in the past.

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

The courtroom's closing ruling, which may 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 prohibit abortion nearly immediately ought to Roe be struck down. learn extra

Register

"If you can't choose whether you wish to have a baby, if that is not a basic right, then I don't know what's," 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 under 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 help for their get together and blunt projected Republican good points in the November elections. read extra

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, the place a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 folks massed on the Washington Monument and braved a light-weight drizzle to march along the National Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Courtroom 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 a few dozen counter-demonstrators holding indicators that read: "Finish abortion violence" and "Girls's rights start within the womb."

The encounter between the 2 sides grew tense at instances. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go dwelling!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator within the head along with his poster after profanities had 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 remain in any other case peaceful, although at least one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a security guard in Washington earlier in 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 were confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners take part in an illustration following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the opportunity of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision, in Washington, U.S., May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

Learn Extra

Law enforcement officials arrived to maintain space between the two groups as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The gang 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, said that the leaked Supreme Court docket draft opinion "treats women as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old critical care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally beneath sunny skies, said abolishing the correct to a authorized abortion could put lives in danger as ladies search unsafe options.

Celebrity girls's rights lawyer Gloria Allred told the gang about her own "again alley abortion" as a young lady when she grew to become pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I almost 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, have been among a number of thousand abortion rights supporters who gathered at a park in Chicago.

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

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

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

"Jesus had just a small group, however his message was more highly effective," Marshall stated.

While the Supreme Courtroom leak thrust abortion again to the forefront of U.S. politics, it was unclear how the problem will play out within the coming elections.

Voters will likely be weighing a number of priorities similar to inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' skill to guard abortion access after legislation that would enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. learn more

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

"This is just an affront to all the pieces I consider that we're alleged to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, said. "If a lady has no control over what will occur to her personal body, then we're back 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 Wealthy 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 Ideas.