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

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of abortion rights supporters rallied throughout the United States on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Courtroom could quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade choice that legalized abortion nationwide a half century in the past.

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

The court's ultimate ruling, which may 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 nearly instantly should Roe be struck down. learn more

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"If you cannot choose whether you want to have a baby, if that is not a basic proper, then I don't know what is," stated Brita Van Rossum, 62, a landscape designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to join 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 impress help for their party and blunt projected Republican gains within the November elections. learn extra

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

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

Surrounded by police was a group of some dozen counter-demonstrators holding signs that read: "Finish abortion violence" and "Girls's rights start within the womb."

The encounter between the 2 sides grew tense at occasions. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go dwelling!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator within the head together with his poster after profanities have been 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 peaceable, although at the very 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 City 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 Courtroom opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights choice, in Washington, U.S., Might 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Law enforcement officials arrived to maintain space 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 Court draft opinion "treats girls as objects, as lower than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old essential care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally below sunny skies, mentioned abolishing the suitable to a legal abortion could put lives at risk as women seek unsafe alternatives.

Celeb ladies's rights lawyer Gloria Allred instructed the group about her own "again alley abortion" as a young woman when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I nearly died," she recounted. "I used to be left in a tub in a pool of my own blood, hemorrhaging."

U.S. Consultant 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 consists of Chicago's western suburbs, informed Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court's conservative majority would contemplate taking away the proper to an abortion and "condemn girls to this lesser standing."

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, more than 400 folks had assembled in a small park in entrance of the state capitol, while about a dozen counter-protesters stood on a nearby sidewalk.

Holding an indication that read, "Cease Baby Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a current public well being graduate from Kennesaw State University, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

"Jesus had just a small group, however his message was more powerful," Marshall mentioned.

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

Voters will be weighing a number of priorities corresponding to inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' potential to guard abortion entry after laws that may enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. read extra

A lot of these marching on Saturday expressed worry that rolling again abortion rights would result in an erosion of civil liberties generally.

"This is simply an affront to all the things I believe that we're purported to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, said. "If a girl has no control over what is going to happen 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; Modifying by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

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