1000’s in U.S. march beneath ‘Ban Off Our Bodies’ banner for abortion rights

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

The protests kicked off what organizers predict will be a "summer season of rage" ignited by the Might 2 disclosure of a draft opinion showing the courtroom's conservative majority ready to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a lady's constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy.

The court's closing ruling, which might return the power to ban abortion to state legislatures, is anticipated in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely limit abortion virtually immediately ought to Roe be struck down. learn more

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"If you can't select whether or not you need to have a child, 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 in the nation's capital, her first ever.

Protesters marching below the slogan "Bans Off Our Bodies" took to the streets from New York and Atlanta to Chicago and Los Angeles in a present of concern that Democrats hope will assist galvanize help for their celebration and blunt projected Republican good points in the November elections. learn more

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

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

Surrounded by police was a group of a few dozen counter-demonstrators holding signs that read: "End 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 in the head along with his poster after profanities had been exchanged. As the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved on the crowd, and some known as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to remain otherwise peaceful, although at the 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 1000's of abortion rights supporters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, where they have been confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners take part in a demonstration following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the potential of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights determination, in Washington, U.S., May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Cops arrived to take care of house between the two teams 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, said that the leaked Supreme Court docket 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 underneath sunny skies, said abolishing the correct to a legal abortion could put lives at risk as ladies search unsafe alternatives.

Superstar ladies's rights attorney Gloria Allred informed the crowd 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 used to be left in a tub in a pool of my very own blood, hemorrhaging."

U.S. Representative 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 consists of Chicago's western suburbs, told Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Courtroom's conservative majority would take into account taking away the precise to an abortion and "condemn ladies to this lesser status."

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

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

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

Whereas the Supreme Court 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 shall be weighing a bunch of priorities similar to inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' ability to guard abortion access after legislation that may enshrine abortion rights in federal law failed. learn more

Many of these marching on Saturday expressed fear that rolling again abortion rights would result in an erosion of civil liberties typically.

"That is simply an affront to every little thing I imagine that we're supposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, said. "If a girl has no control 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; Further 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; Modifying by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

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