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

WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) - 1000's of abortion rights supporters rallied throughout the USA on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Courtroom could quickly overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade resolution that legalized abortion nationwide a half century in the past.

The protests kicked off what organizers predict might be a "summer season of rage" ignited by the Might 2 disclosure of a draft opinion showing the court docket's conservative majority able to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a girl's constitutional proper to terminate her pregnancy.

The court docket's last ruling, which might return the power to ban abortion to state legislatures, is expected in June. About half of the 50 states are poised to ban or severely restrict abortion nearly immediately ought to Roe be struck down. read extra

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"If you cannot choose whether or not you wish to have a child, if that is not a fundamental right, then I don't know what is," said Brita Van Rossum, 62, a landscape designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to join the abortion-rights rally within the nation's capital, her first ever.

Protesters marching below 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 shock that Democrats hope will assist provoke assist for their social gathering and blunt projected Republican good points in the November elections. learn extra

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 lightweight drizzle to march along the Nationwide Mall past the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Courtroom itself.

The rally erupted in shouts of "Disgrace" and "Bans off our our bodies" because 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 within the womb."

The encounter between the 2 sides grew tense at instances. Abortion rights protesters shouted, “Go residence!,” and one man whacked a counter-demonstrator in the head with his poster after profanities had been exchanged. As the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved at the crowd, and some called out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to stay in any other case peaceable, though not less than one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a safety guard in Washington earlier in 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 had been confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners participate in an illustration following the leaked Supreme Courtroom opinion suggesting the possibility of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights resolution, in Washington, U.S., Could 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Police officers arrived to take care of area between the 2 teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The gang thinned out in early afternoon as rain fell over town.

Elizabeth Holtzman, an 80-year-old former congresswoman who represented New York from 1973 to 1981, mentioned that the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion "treats girls as objects, as less than full human beings."

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

Celeb women's rights lawyer Gloria Allred told the gang about her personal "again alley abortion" as a young girl when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I almost died," she recounted. "I was left in a bath in a pool of my 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 contains Chicago's western suburbs, advised Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court's conservative majority would consider taking away the correct to an abortion and "condemn ladies to this lesser standing."

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, greater than 400 individuals had assembled in a small park in entrance of the state capitol, whereas 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 latest public health graduate from Kennesaw State College, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

"Jesus had just a small group, but his message was more powerful," Marshall stated.

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

Voters shall be weighing a bunch of priorities similar to inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' means to guard abortion access after legislation that will enshrine abortion rights in federal regulation failed. learn extra

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

"That is simply an affront to every thing I imagine that we're speculated to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, said. "If a woman has no management over what's going to occur to her personal body, then we're back 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; Modifying by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman, Mark Porter and Grant McCool

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Belief Ideas.