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

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - Thousands 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 decision that legalized abortion nationwide a half century ago.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict will likely be a "summer of rage" ignited by the Might 2 disclosure of a draft opinion showing the court's conservative majority ready to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a woman's constitutional proper to terminate her being pregnant.

The courtroom's final ruling, which could return the facility to ban abortion to state legislatures, is predicted in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely limit abortion virtually immediately should Roe be struck down. learn more

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"If you cannot select whether you need to have a baby, if that's not a elementary right, then I don't know what is," mentioned Brita Van Rossum, 62, a panorama designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to hitch the abortion-rights rally in 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 show of outrage that Democrats hope will help impress support for their get together and blunt projected Republican features within the November elections. learn extra

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, the place a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 individuals massed on the Washington Monument and braved a light-weight drizzle to march alongside the National Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court docket itself.

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

Surrounded by police was a gaggle of some dozen counter-demonstrators holding signs 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 home!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator in the head together with his poster after profanities had been exchanged. As the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved on the crowd, and a few referred to as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to remain in any other case peaceful, although at the very least one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a safety guard in Washington earlier in the day.

The mood was likewise energetic, and generally contentious, in New York City as 1000's 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 a demonstration following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights resolution, in Washington, U.S., May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Cops arrived to keep up house between the 2 groups as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The group 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, said that the leaked Supreme Court docket draft opinion "treats ladies as objects, as lower than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old important care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally below sunny skies, stated abolishing the correct to a legal abortion may put lives in danger as women search unsafe options.

Celeb women's rights attorney Gloria Allred instructed the crowd about her personal "back alley abortion" as a young lady when she became pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I almost died," she recounted. "I was left in a bath in a pool of my very own blood, hemorrhaging."

U.S. Consultant Sean Casten and his 15-year-old daughter, Audrey, were among several 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 docket's conservative majority would contemplate taking away the appropriate 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 front of the state capitol, while a couple of dozen counter-protesters stood on a nearby sidewalk.

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

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

While the Supreme Court docket leak thrust abortion back to the forefront of U.S. politics, it was unclear how the difficulty will play out within the coming elections.

Voters shall be weighing a host of priorities reminiscent of inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' skill to guard abortion access after laws that might enshrine abortion rights in federal regulation failed. learn more

Many of these marching on Saturday expressed fear that rolling back abortion rights would result in an erosion of civil liberties generally.

"This is simply an affront to everything I consider that we're alleged to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a girl 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; Further reporting by Eric Cox in Chicago, Maria Caspani in New York, Costas Pitas in Los Angeles and Rich 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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