1000’s in U.S. march under ‘Ban Off Our Our bodies’ banner for abortion rights

WASHINGTON, Could 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of abortion rights supporters rallied across the USA on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Court docket could soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade choice 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 Might 2 disclosure of a draft opinion showing 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 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 prohibit abortion virtually instantly ought to Roe be struck down. learn more

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"If you cannot select whether or not you need to have a baby, if that is not a basic proper, then I do not know what's," stated Brita Van Rossum, 62, a landscape designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to hitch 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 show of shock that Democrats hope will assist impress support for their social gathering and blunt projected Republican good points within the November elections. learn more

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, where a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 individuals massed at the Washington Monument and braved a light drizzle to march alongside the National Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court 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 bunch of a few dozen counter-demonstrators holding indicators that read: "Finish abortion violence" and "Women's rights begin 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 within the head with his poster after profanities had been exchanged. Because the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved on the crowd, and a few known as out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to remain otherwise peaceful, though 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, where they were confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners participate in an indication following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the opportunity of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights choice, in Washington, U.S., Might 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Cops arrived to take care of space between the two groups as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The group thinned out in early afternoon as rain fell over the city.

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 women as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old crucial care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally underneath sunny skies, mentioned abolishing the best to a legal abortion may put lives at risk as girls search unsafe options.

Celeb women's rights legal professional Gloria Allred informed the crowd about her personal "again alley abortion" as a younger girl when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint earlier than Roe. "I nearly died," she recounted. "I was left in a bathtub 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 contains Chicago's western suburbs, instructed Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Courtroom's conservative majority would think about taking away the best to an abortion and "condemn ladies to this lesser standing."

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, more than 400 people 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 a sign that learn, "Cease Little one Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a latest public health graduate from Kennesaw State College, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

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

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 host of priorities similar to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' potential to guard abortion access after laws that will enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. read more

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

"This is just an affront to every part I consider that we're imagined to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, stated. "If a girl has no control over what will occur to her personal body, then we're again 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 Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing by Ted Hesson and Steve Gorman; Enhancing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Ideas.