Hundreds in U.S. march under ‘Ban Off Our Bodies’ banner for abortion rights

WASHINGTON, Could 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of abortion rights supporters rallied throughout america on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court could soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide a half century in the past.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict might be a "summer season of rage" ignited by the Could 2 disclosure of a draft opinion displaying the court's conservative majority ready to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a girl's constitutional right to terminate her being pregnant.

The court's remaining 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 restrict abortion virtually instantly should Roe be struck down. read more

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"If you cannot choose whether you wish to have a baby, if that is not a basic proper, then I don't 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 concern that Democrats hope will assist galvanize assist for their social gathering and blunt projected Republican positive factors 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 on the Washington Monument and braved a light drizzle to march along the National Mall previous 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 group of a few dozen counter-demonstrators holding indicators that read: "Finish abortion violence" and "Women's rights start in the womb."

The encounter between the 2 sides grew tense at instances. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go dwelling!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator within the head together with his poster after profanities had been exchanged. Because the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved on the crowd, and some known as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to remain otherwise peaceable, though not less than one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a safety guard in Washington earlier in 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, the place they have been confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners participate in an indication following the leaked Supreme Courtroom opinion suggesting the potential of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights choice, in Washington, U.S., Could 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Police officers 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 city.

Elizabeth Holtzman, an 80-year-old former congresswoman who represented New York from 1973 to 1981, said that the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion "treats women as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old vital care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally below sunny skies, mentioned abolishing the right to a authorized abortion could put lives in danger as women search unsafe options.

Celeb women's rights attorney Gloria Allred told the group about her own "back alley abortion" as a young girl when she became 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 own blood, hemorrhaging."

U.S. Representative Sean Casten and his 15-year-old daughter, Audrey, had been among a number of thousand abortion rights supporters who gathered at a park in Chicago.

Casten, whose district includes Chicago's western suburbs, informed Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court docket's conservative majority would contemplate taking away the precise to an abortion and "condemn women to this lesser status."

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

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

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

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

Voters can be weighing a host of priorities corresponding to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' ability to guard abortion access after legislation that would enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. read more

Many of these 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 everything I consider that we're alleged to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a woman has no management over what will happen to her own physique, then we're again in 1850 not 1950.

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Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington; Additional 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; Enhancing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

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