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

WASHINGTON, Might 14 (Reuters) - 1000's of abortion rights supporters rallied across the USA on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Courtroom may soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion nationwide a half century in the past.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict shall be a "summer time 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 lady's constitutional right to terminate her being pregnant.

The court docket's remaining ruling, which may return the ability to ban abortion to state legislatures, is anticipated in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely restrict abortion almost immediately ought to Roe be struck down. read more

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"If you can't choose whether or not you wish to have a baby, if that is not a basic proper, then I do not know what is," said 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 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 shock that Democrats hope will help galvanize help for their social gathering and blunt projected Republican positive aspects in 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 alongside the National Mall previous the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court docket itself.

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

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

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

The rally appeared to remain otherwise peaceable, although at least one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a security guard in Washington earlier within the day.

The temper was likewise energetic, and generally contentious, in New York City as hundreds 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 take part in an indication following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the potential for overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights choice, in Washington, U.S., Could 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Cops arrived to keep up house between the 2 teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The group thinned out in early afternoon as rain fell over town.

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

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old critical care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally below sunny skies, said abolishing the correct to a authorized abortion might put lives at risk as women search unsafe alternatives.

Superstar women's rights attorney Gloria Allred informed the group about her personal "back alley abortion" as a younger girl when she became pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I nearly died," she recounted. "I was 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, had been amongst a number of thousand abortion rights supporters who gathered at a park in Chicago.

Casten, whose district includes Chicago's western suburbs, told Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Courtroom's conservative majority would think about taking away the best to an abortion and "condemn girls to this lesser standing."

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, more than 400 individuals had assembled in a small park in entrance of the state capitol, whereas about a dozen counter-protesters stood on a close-by 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 only a small group, however his message was more highly effective," Marshall said.

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

Voters will probably be weighing a number of priorities akin to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' capacity to protect abortion entry after laws that would enshrine abortion rights in federal law failed. read extra

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

"This is just an affront to every part I imagine that we're presupposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a lady has no management over what will occur to her own physique, then we're again 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 Wealthy 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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