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

WASHINGTON, Might 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of abortion rights supporters rallied across america on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court docket might soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide a half century ago.

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

The court's closing ruling, which may return the power to ban abortion to state legislatures, is predicted in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely restrict abortion almost instantly ought to Roe be struck down. read extra

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"If you can't select whether or not you need to have a baby, if that is not a basic right, then I don't know what's," stated Brita Van Rossum, 62, a landscape designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to hitch the abortion-rights rally in the nation's capital, her first ever.

Protesters marching under the slogan "Bans Off Our Our bodies" took to the streets from New York and Atlanta to Chicago and Los Angeles in a show of outrage that Democrats hope will assist impress support for their occasion and blunt projected Republican positive factors within the November elections. read more

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

The rally erupted in shouts of "Shame" and "Bans off 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 indicators that learn: "Finish abortion violence" and "Girls's rights begin in the womb."

The encounter between the two sides grew tense at occasions. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go dwelling!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator in the head with his poster after profanities were exchanged. Because the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved at the crowd, and some known as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to stay otherwise peaceable, although not less than one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a safety guard in Washington earlier in the day.

The temper was likewise energetic, and generally contentious, in New York Metropolis as thousands 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 indication following the leaked Supreme Courtroom 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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Cops arrived to maintain area between the 2 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, 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 underneath sunny skies, said abolishing the appropriate to a legal abortion could put lives in danger as women seek unsafe alternatives.

Celeb ladies's rights legal professional Gloria Allred told the group about her personal "again alley abortion" as a younger woman when she grew to become pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than 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 amongst several thousand abortion rights supporters who gathered at a park in Chicago.

Casten, whose district contains Chicago's western suburbs, advised Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court docket's conservative majority would take into account taking away the best to an abortion and "condemn ladies 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 learn, "Cease Child Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a current public well being graduate from Kennesaw State College, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

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

Whereas the Supreme Court leak thrust abortion again 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 host of priorities resembling inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' ability to protect abortion access after legislation that will enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. read extra

Lots of those marching on Saturday expressed concern that rolling again abortion rights would result in an erosion of civil liberties typically.

"This is just an affront to the whole lot I believe that we're speculated to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a lady has no management over what's going to occur to her personal 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; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Ideas.