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 United States on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court docket may soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide a half century ago.

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

The court docket's last ruling, which may return the ability to ban abortion to state legislatures, is expected in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely restrict abortion almost instantly ought to Roe be struck down. learn extra

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"If you cannot select whether you wish to have a child, if that's not a fundamental proper, then I do not know what's," stated Brita Van Rossum, 62, a landscape designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to affix the abortion-rights rally within 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 outrage that Democrats hope will assist provoke support for his or her social gathering and blunt projected Republican beneficial properties within the November elections. read 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 "Shame" 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 indicators that learn: "End abortion violence" and "Girls's rights begin within the womb."

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

The rally appeared to stay otherwise peaceful, though at the 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 typically contentious, in New York City as hundreds of abortion rights supporters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, the place they had been confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

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

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Law enforcement officials arrived to keep up space between the 2 teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The gang 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, mentioned that the leaked Supreme Court docket draft opinion "treats girls as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old essential care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally underneath sunny skies, said abolishing the appropriate to a legal abortion may put lives at risk as ladies seek unsafe alternatives.

Movie star ladies's rights lawyer Gloria Allred informed the group about her own "back alley abortion" as a younger girl when she became pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I virtually died," she recounted. "I was left in a tub in a pool of my own blood, hemorrhaging."

U.S. Representative Sean Casten and his 15-year-old daughter, Audrey, have been amongst a number of 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 Court's conservative majority would take into account taking away the best to an abortion and "condemn women to this lesser status."

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, greater than 400 people had assembled in a small park in entrance of the state capitol, whereas a couple of dozen counter-protesters stood on a close-by sidewalk.

Holding an indication that read, "Stop Youngster Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a latest public well being graduate from Kennesaw State College, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

"Jesus had just a small group, but his message was more powerful," Marshall said.

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

Voters will probably be weighing a host of priorities similar to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' capability to guard abortion access after legislation that would enshrine abortion rights in federal law failed. read more

Lots of those marching on Saturday expressed fear that rolling again abortion rights would result in an erosion of civil liberties generally.

"This is simply an affront to every little thing I believe that we're presupposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, said. "If a woman has no management over what will happen to her own physique, then we're back 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; Modifying by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.