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

WASHINGTON, Might 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of abortion rights supporters rallied across the United States on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court docket might 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 shall be a "summer of rage" ignited by the May 2 disclosure of a draft opinion displaying the courtroom's conservative majority able to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a lady's constitutional right to terminate her pregnancy.

The courtroom's last ruling, which may 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. learn extra

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"If you cannot select whether you want to have a child, if that is not a fundamental proper, then I do not know what is," mentioned 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 beneath 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 outrage that Democrats hope will help impress assist for his or her celebration and blunt projected Republican beneficial properties in 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 at the Washington Monument and braved a lightweight drizzle to march along the Nationwide Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court itself.

The rally erupted in shouts of "Shame" and "Bans off our bodies" because 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 two sides grew tense at instances. 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. Because the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved at the crowd, and a few referred to as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to remain otherwise peaceable, although a minimum of 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 hundreds of abortion rights supporters crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan, where they were confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners participate in an illustration following the leaked Supreme Court docket 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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Cops arrived to take care of area between the two groups as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The crowd 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 Courtroom draft opinion "treats ladies 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, stated abolishing the precise to a authorized abortion might put lives at risk as ladies seek unsafe alternatives.

Movie star ladies's rights attorney Gloria Allred advised the gang about her personal "again alley abortion" as a young girl when she became pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I nearly died," she recounted. "I was left in a bath 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 contains Chicago's western suburbs, told Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court docket's conservative majority would think about taking away the precise to an abortion and "condemn ladies to this lesser standing."

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

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

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

While 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 can be weighing a bunch of priorities comparable to inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' capability to guard abortion access after laws that would enshrine abortion rights in federal regulation failed. learn more

A lot of those marching on Saturday expressed concern that rolling back abortion rights would lead to an erosion of civil liberties typically.

"That is just an affront to all the things I believe that we're alleged to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, stated. "If a woman has no management over what is going to happen to her own physique, then we're back 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; Modifying by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Rules.