WASHINGTON, May 14 (Reuters) – Supporters of abortion rights began to gather for protests in the United States on Saturday, starting what organizers say would be a “summer of rage” if the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade which legalizes abortion across the country.
Planned Parenthood, Women’s March and other abortion rights groups organized more than 400 “Bans Off Our Bodies” marches on Saturday, with the greatest activity expected in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Chicago.
The demonstrations came in response to a May 2 draft opinion showing that a conservative majority of the court was ready to overturn the landmark 1973 ruling establishing federal constitutional law on abortion.
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A final court ruling, which could give states the power to ban abortions, is expected in June. About half of the United States could ban or severely restrict abortions soon after Roe’s release. Read more
Organizers say they expect hundreds of thousands of people to take part in Saturday’s event, which they say will be the first of many coordinated protests over the Supreme Court ruling.
“For women in this country, this will be a summer of fury,” said Rachel Carmona, president of the Women’s March. “We will be unmanageable until this government starts working for us, until the attacks on our bodies stop, until the right to abortion is codified in law.
Several thousand abortion supporters began gathering in a park in Chicago on Saturday morning, including U.S. Representative Sean Kasten and his 15-year-old daughter, Audrey.
Casten, whose area includes the western suburbs of Chicago, told Reuters that it was “terrible” that the conservative Supreme Court would consider revoking the right to abortion and “condemning women to this lower status.”
Democrats, who currently hold the White House and both houses of Congress, hope the backlash from the Supreme Court ruling will lead their party’s candidates to victory in the November congressional election. Read more
But voters will weigh abortion rights over other issues, such as rising food and gas prices, and may be skeptical about Democrats’ ability to protect access to abortion as efforts to pass legislation to strengthen abortion rights in federal law, failed. Read more
On Saturday, protesters in New York plan to cross the Brooklyn Bridge, while protesters in Washington will meet in front of the Washington Monument and then head to the Supreme Court. Protesters in Los Angeles were scheduled to meet at the town hall, and a group in Austin was to gather in the capital of Texas.
Last week, protesters gathered in front of the homes of Supreme Court justices Samuel Alito and Brett Cavanaugh, who voted to repeal Rowe against Wade, according to a leaked opinion.
Judge Clarence Thomas told a Dallas conference on Friday that the court’s credibility had “disappeared forever” after the leak.
“When you lose that trust, especially in the institution I am in, it changes the institution fundamentally,” said conservative justice.
Students for Life in America, an advocacy group with abortion wards on campus across the country, said it was holding counter-protests Saturday in nine cities, including Washington.
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Report by Gabriela Borter in Washington; Additional reports by Eric Cox in Chicago; Writing by Ted Hesson; Edited by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Osterman and Grant McCool
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