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

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

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

The court's last ruling, which could 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 virtually immediately should Roe be struck down. learn more

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"If you can't select whether you want to have a child, if that's not a fundamental proper, then I don't know what is," said 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 underneath the slogan "Bans Off Our 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 help galvanize support for their occasion and blunt projected Republican beneficial properties in the November elections. learn extra

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 lightweight drizzle to march along the Nationwide Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court itself.

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

Surrounded by police was a gaggle of a few dozen counter-demonstrators holding signs that learn: "End abortion violence" and "Women's rights start within the womb."

The encounter between the two sides grew tense at instances. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go residence!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator in the head along 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 remain otherwise peaceful, though a minimum of one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a security guard in Washington earlier within the day.

The mood was likewise energetic, and typically contentious, in New York City 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 Court opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights determination, 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 2 teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The crowd thinned out in early afternoon as rain fell over the 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 under sunny skies, stated abolishing the precise to a authorized abortion might put lives at risk as ladies search unsafe options.

Movie star ladies's rights lawyer Gloria Allred told the group about her own "again alley abortion" as a younger woman when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I virtually died," she recounted. "I used to be 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, were amongst several thousand abortion rights supporters who gathered at a park in Chicago.

Casten, whose district consists of Chicago's western suburbs, advised Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Courtroom's conservative majority would consider taking away the proper to an abortion and "condemn women to this lesser status."

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

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

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

Whereas the Supreme Court leak thrust abortion back to the forefront of U.S. politics, it was unclear how the issue will play out in the coming elections.

Voters can be weighing a number of priorities similar to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' means to guard abortion access after legislation that would enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. read extra

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

"That is simply an affront to every part I believe that we're supposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a girl has no control over what is going to happen to her personal body, then we're back in 1850 not 1950.

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Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington; Extra 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

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