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

WASHINGTON, Might 14 (Reuters) - 1000's of abortion rights supporters rallied throughout the United States on Saturday, angered by the prospect that the Supreme Courtroom might 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 of rage" ignited by the Could 2 disclosure of a draft opinion displaying the courtroom's conservative majority ready to reverse the 1973 ruling that established a woman's constitutional proper to terminate her being pregnant.

The courtroom's closing ruling, which could 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 restrict abortion virtually immediately ought to Roe be struck down. learn extra

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"If you cannot choose whether you want to have a baby, if that's not a basic proper, then I don't know what is," said Brita Van Rossum, 62, a landscape designer who traveled from suburban Philadelphia to affix 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 present of concern that Democrats hope will help impress help for his or her get together and blunt projected Republican positive aspects within the November elections. learn more

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, where a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 folks massed at the Washington Monument and braved a light-weight drizzle to march along the Nationwide Mall previous the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Courtroom itself.

The rally erupted in shouts of "Shame" and "Bans off our our bodies" as 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 "Girls's rights begin within the womb."

The encounter between the two 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 were exchanged. Because the-anti abortion protesters left, they waved at the crowd, and a few called out, “Bye, Roe v. Wade!”

The rally appeared to stay otherwise peaceable, though at the least one counter-protester was seen being escorted away by a security guard in Washington earlier in 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 were confronted by a half dozen anti-abortion activists.

Abortion rights campaigners take part in an illustration following the leaked Supreme Court opinion suggesting the potential of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights resolution, in Washington, U.S., Might 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Law enforcement officials arrived to maintain area between the 2 teams 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, stated that the leaked Supreme Court docket draft opinion "treats girls as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old critical care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally underneath sunny skies, mentioned abolishing the correct to a authorized abortion could put lives in danger as girls search unsafe alternatives.

Movie star women's rights legal professional Gloria Allred told the gang about her own "back alley abortion" as a young woman when she grew to become pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I virtually died," she recounted. "I was left in a bathtub 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 includes Chicago's western suburbs, told Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Court's conservative majority would consider taking away the appropriate 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 entrance of the state capitol, while a few dozen counter-protesters stood on a nearby sidewalk.

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

"Jesus had just a small group, but his message was more highly effective," Marshall said.

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

Voters shall be weighing a number of priorities resembling inflation and may be skeptical of Democrats' capacity to protect abortion entry after legislation that may enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. read extra

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

"This is simply an affront to all the pieces I consider that we're alleged to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a girl has no control over what will happen to her personal body, then we're back in 1850 not 1950.

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Reporting by Gabriella Borter in Washington; Extra 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

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