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

WASHINGTON, Could 14 (Reuters) - 1000's of abortion rights supporters rallied throughout the USA on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court might soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nationwide a half century ago.

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

The court docket's final ruling, which may return the facility 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 child, if that's not a fundamental proper, then I do not know what's," said 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 underneath the slogan "Bans Off Our Bodies" took to the streets from New York and Atlanta to Chicago and Los Angeles in a show of shock that Democrats hope will help impress assist for his or her social gathering and blunt projected Republican beneficial properties within the November elections. read more

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

The rally erupted in shouts of "Shame" and "Bans off our bodies" because 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 start in the womb."

The encounter between the two sides grew tense at instances. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go home!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator in the head along with his poster after profanities have been exchanged. Because 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, though not less than one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a security guard in Washington earlier in the day.

The temper was likewise energetic, and typically contentious, in New York City as thousands of abortion rights supporters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, the place they were confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

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

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Law enforcement officials arrived to take care of area 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 women as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old critical care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally below sunny skies, stated abolishing the precise to a legal abortion may put lives in danger as girls search unsafe alternatives.

Superstar ladies's rights lawyer Gloria Allred informed the gang about her own "again alley abortion" as a young woman when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I virtually died," she recounted. "I was 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, had been among several thousand abortion rights supporters who gathered at a park in Chicago.

Casten, whose district contains Chicago's western suburbs, informed Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court docket's conservative majority would take into account taking away the right to an abortion and "condemn ladies to this lesser standing."

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, more 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 Child Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a latest public well being graduate from Kennesaw State College, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

"Jesus had only a small group, but his message was extra powerful," 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 in the coming elections.

Voters might be weighing a bunch of priorities equivalent to inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' means to guard abortion access after laws that will enshrine abortion rights in federal regulation failed. learn extra

Many of those marching on Saturday expressed fear that rolling back abortion rights would lead to an erosion of civil liberties typically.

"This is just an affront to every thing I consider that we're purported to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, said. "If a woman has no control over what is going to occur to her personal physique, 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 Wealthy McKay in Atlanta; Writing by Ted Hesson and Steve Gorman; Modifying by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.