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

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - 1000's of abortion rights supporters rallied across the USA on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court docket may quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nationwide a half century ago.

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

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 prohibit abortion almost immediately ought to Roe be struck down. learn more

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"If you can't choose whether or not you need to have a baby, if that is not a elementary proper, then I don't know what's," said 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 underneath 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 shock that Democrats hope will help impress support for his or her party and blunt projected Republican good points 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-weight 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 our bodies" because the marchers neared the marbled columns of the courthouse.

Surrounded by police was a bunch of some dozen counter-demonstrators holding signs that read: "Finish abortion violence" and "Ladies's rights begin in the womb."

The encounter between the 2 sides grew tense at times. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go dwelling!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator within the head along with his poster after profanities have been exchanged. As the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved on the crowd, and some referred to as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to stay otherwise peaceable, although no less than one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a safety guard in Washington earlier within the day.

The mood 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 a demonstration following the leaked Supreme Court 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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Cops arrived to keep up area between the 2 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 Court docket 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 below sunny skies, mentioned abolishing the appropriate to a authorized abortion might put lives in danger as women search unsafe options.

Superstar women's rights lawyer Gloria Allred told the group about her personal "back alley abortion" as a younger girl when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I nearly died," she recounted. "I used to be left in a tub 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, informed Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court docket's conservative majority would take into account taking away the correct to an abortion and "condemn girls to this lesser status."

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, more than 400 folks 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 health graduate from Kennesaw State University, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

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

While the Supreme Court 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 can be weighing a host of priorities equivalent to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' means to protect abortion entry after laws that will enshrine abortion rights in federal regulation failed. read extra

Many of these marching on Saturday expressed worry that rolling again abortion rights would lead to an erosion of civil liberties generally.

"That is simply an affront to all the things I believe that we're supposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, stated. "If a lady has no control over what's going to happen to her personal 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 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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