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

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

The protests kicked off what organizers predict will likely be a "summer season 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 remaining 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 limit abortion virtually immediately ought to Roe be struck down. learn extra

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"If you can't choose whether you want to have a child, if that is not a basic proper, then I don't know what is," stated Brita Van Rossum, 62, a panorama 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 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 galvanize help for their social gathering and blunt projected Republican features in the November elections. read extra

The day's largest demonstration unfolded in Washington, the place a crowd that organizers estimated at 20,000 individuals massed at the Washington Monument and braved a lightweight drizzle to march along the National Mall previous the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court docket 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 a few dozen counter-demonstrators holding signs that read: "Finish abortion violence" and "Ladies's rights start within the womb."

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

The rally appeared to remain in any other case peaceable, although at the 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 thousands 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 Courtroom opinion suggesting the opportunity of overturning the Roe v. Wade abortion rights resolution, in Washington, U.S., May 14, 2022. REUTERS/Amira Karaoud

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Cops arrived to keep up space between the two teams as they traded taunts and vulgarities. The gang 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 ladies as objects, as less than full human beings."

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old essential care nurse who attended a Los Angeles rally underneath sunny skies, mentioned abolishing the correct to a legal abortion might put lives in danger as women search unsafe alternate options.

Celebrity girls's rights lawyer Gloria Allred informed the crowd about her own "back alley abortion" as a young lady when she turned pregnant from a rape at gunpoint before Roe. "I virtually died," she recounted. "I was left in a bathtub in a pool of my very own blood, hemorrhaging."

U.S. Consultant 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, advised Reuters it was "horrible" that the Supreme Courtroom's conservative majority would consider taking away the best to an abortion and "condemn girls to this lesser standing."

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, greater 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 read, "Cease Little one Sacrifice," 23-year-old Bria Marshall, a latest public health graduate from Kennesaw State University, acknowledged her group's smaller turnout.

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

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

Voters will probably be weighing a bunch of priorities equivalent to inflation and could also be skeptical of Democrats' skill to protect abortion entry after legislation that would enshrine abortion rights in federal legislation failed. learn extra

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

"That is just an affront to every little thing I imagine that we're presupposed to be about," Los Angeles musician Joel Altshuler, 73, mentioned. "If a lady has no management over what is going to occur to her personal physique, then we're again 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 Rich 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 Trust Rules.