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

WASHINGTON, Could 14 (Reuters) - 1000's of abortion rights supporters rallied across america on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Courtroom might quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide a half century in the past.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict will probably 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 woman's constitutional right to terminate her being pregnant.

The court's ultimate ruling, which could return the power to ban abortion to state legislatures, is predicted in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely restrict abortion nearly immediately ought to Roe be struck down. read more

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"If you cannot choose whether you want to have a baby, if that is not a elementary right, then I do not know what's," stated Brita Van Rossum, 62, a panorama designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to affix the abortion-rights rally within the nation's capital, her first ever.

Protesters marching under 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 assist galvanize assist for his or her celebration and blunt projected Republican positive aspects within the November elections. learn more

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 lightweight drizzle to march alongside the Nationwide Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court docket 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 indicators that learn: "Finish abortion violence" and "Girls's rights start in the womb."

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

The rally appeared to stay otherwise peaceable, though at 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 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 an indication following the leaked Supreme Courtroom opinion suggesting the opportunity of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights determination, in Washington, U.S., May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Cops arrived to take care of house between the two 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, stated that the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion "treats girls as objects, as lower than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old critical care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally under sunny skies, said abolishing the precise to a legal abortion could put lives in danger as ladies seek unsafe alternatives.

Celeb women's rights lawyer Gloria Allred advised the group about her own "back alley abortion" as a younger girl when she grew to become pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I virtually died," she recounted. "I was left in a bath in a pool of my very own blood, hemorrhaging."

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

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

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

Holding an indication that learn, "Cease 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 stated.

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

Voters will likely be weighing a number of priorities comparable to inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' ability to guard abortion access after laws that may enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. learn more

Many of these marching on Saturday expressed concern that rolling back abortion rights would lead to an erosion of civil liberties usually.

"That is just an affront to all the pieces I consider that we're speculated to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, stated. "If a lady has no management over what will happen to her own body, 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; Enhancing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

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