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

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - 1000's of abortion rights supporters rallied across the US on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court 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 shall be a "summer season of rage" ignited by the Could 2 disclosure of a draft opinion showing the court docket's conservative majority ready to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a girl's constitutional proper to terminate her pregnancy.

The courtroom's ultimate ruling, which could return the power to ban abortion to state legislatures, is expected in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely limit abortion almost immediately ought to Roe be struck down. learn more

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"If you can't select whether or not you want to have a baby, if that is not a fundamental right, then I do not know what's," stated 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 below 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 concern that Democrats hope will help provoke help for his or her celebration and blunt projected Republican positive aspects within 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 at the Washington Monument and braved a lightweight drizzle to march alongside 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 group of a few dozen counter-demonstrators holding signs that learn: "End abortion violence" and "Ladies's rights begin within the womb."

The encounter between the two sides grew tense at times. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go home!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator in the head together with his poster after profanities have been exchanged. Because the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved on the crowd, and some called 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 within the day.

The temper was likewise energetic, and sometimes contentious, in New York Metropolis as hundreds 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 an indication following the leaked Supreme Courtroom opinion suggesting the possibility 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 two groups as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The gang 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 lower than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old important care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally beneath sunny skies, mentioned abolishing the correct to a legal abortion might put lives in danger as girls search unsafe options.

Superstar girls's rights legal professional Gloria Allred instructed the gang about her own "again alley abortion" as a young lady when she became pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I almost died," she recounted. "I was left in a bathtub in a pool of my 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, instructed Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Courtroom's conservative majority would consider taking away the best to an abortion and "condemn women 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 about a dozen counter-protesters stood on a close-by sidewalk.

Holding a sign that learn, "Cease Child Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a recent public health graduate from Kennesaw State College, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

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

While the Supreme Courtroom 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 will be weighing a host of priorities comparable to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' skill to protect abortion access after laws that will enshrine abortion rights in federal law failed. learn more

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

"That is simply an affront to all the things I believe that we're supposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a girl has no management over what's going to occur to her personal 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

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.