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

WASHINGTON, Might 14 (Reuters) - Hundreds of abortion rights supporters rallied across the US on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Courtroom may soon overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade determination that legalized abortion nationwide a half century in the past.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict will probably be a "summer season of rage" ignited by the May 2 disclosure of a draft opinion exhibiting the courtroom's conservative majority able to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a girl's constitutional proper to terminate her pregnancy.

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

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"If you can't choose whether or not you want to have a child, if that's not a fundamental proper, then I do not know what is," 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 below the slogan "Bans Off Our Bodies" took to the streets from New York and Atlanta to Chicago and Los Angeles in a show of concern that Democrats hope will assist impress support for his or her occasion and blunt projected Republican good points within the November elections. learn more

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, the place a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 folks massed on the Washington Monument and braved a light-weight 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 group of some dozen counter-demonstrators holding indicators that read: "Finish abortion violence" and "Ladies's rights begin within the womb."

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

The rally appeared to stay in any other case peaceful, though not less than one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a security guard in Washington earlier within the day.

The temper was likewise energetic, and typically contentious, in New York Metropolis 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 take part in a demonstration following the leaked Supreme Courtroom opinion suggesting the potential for overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights resolution, in Washington, U.S., Could 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Cops arrived to maintain space 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, said that the leaked Supreme Courtroom draft opinion "treats women as objects, as lower than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old crucial care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally under sunny skies, said abolishing the appropriate to a authorized abortion might put lives in danger as women seek unsafe alternate options.

Celeb ladies's rights legal professional Gloria Allred advised the gang about her personal "back alley abortion" as a young woman when she turned 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. 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 includes Chicago's western suburbs, informed Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court's conservative majority would think about taking away the appropriate 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, while a few dozen counter-protesters stood on a nearby sidewalk.

Holding a sign that learn, "Stop Baby Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a recent public health graduate from Kennesaw State College, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

"Jesus had just a small group, however his message was more powerful," Marshall said.

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

Voters shall be weighing a number of priorities corresponding to inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' capacity to guard abortion entry after legislation that would enshrine abortion rights in federal regulation failed. learn more

Lots of those marching on Saturday expressed worry that rolling back abortion rights would result in an erosion of civil liberties typically.

"This is simply an affront to every thing I imagine that we're alleged to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, said. "If a girl has no management over what will occur to her own 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 Wealthy 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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