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Thousands protest for abortion rights in the United States

Thousands of abortion rights advocates gathered across the United States on Saturday to express their outrage over fears in the Roe v. Wade that legalized abortion across the country will be struck down by the US Supreme Court.

The demonstrations to start what organizers said was “a summer of rage” are a response to the leak of a draft opinion showing the court’s conservative majority ready to reverse the landmark 1973 decision that established a federal constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy. .

There were large demonstrations in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and Chicago with some smaller counter-protests. Near the base of the Washington Monument on the National Mall, some protesters waved signs with messages like “How dare they”, “We are the majority” and “Retaliate. Protect the choice”.

The court’s final decision, which could give states the power to ban abortion, is scheduled for June. About half of US states could ban or severely restrict abortion shortly after a decision to this effect.

The mood was energetic in downtown Brooklyn as thousands of abortion rights advocates crossed the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan.

Elizabeth Holtzman, an 80-year-old protester who represented New York in Congress from 1973 to 1981, said the Supreme Court’s leaked draft opinion “treats women as objects, as inferior human beings.”

Malcolm DeCesare, a 34-year-old nurse in an intensive care unit who took part in a rally outside Los Angeles City Hall, said ending the right to legal abortion could put lives at risk as women seek unsafe alternatives.

The actions generally appeared peaceful, although at least one counter-protester was escorted by a security guard in Washington.

Students for Life of America, an anti-abortion advocacy group with campus representations across the country, said it was holding counter-protests on Saturday in nine cities, including Washington.

At an abortion rights protest in Atlanta, more than 400 people gathered in a small park across from the state capitol with about a dozen counter-protesters on a nearby sidewalk.

Holding up a sign that read, “Stop Child Sacrifice,” Bria Marshall, 23, a recent public health graduate from Kennesaw State University, acknowledged her group’s smaller turnout.

“Jesus only had a small group, but his message was more powerful,” said Marshall, a member of an evangelical church. “I hope to plant some seeds in your hearts to change minds.”

Planned Parenthood, the Women’s March and other abortion rights groups organized more than 400 “Bans Off Our Bodies” protests on Saturday, with Washington’s march to the end of the Supreme Court the focus of liberal outrage over the past two weeks.

Activists said this would be the first of many coordinated protests around the Supreme Court’s decision.

“For the women of this country, this is going to be a summer of rage,” said Rachel Carmona, president of the Women’s March. “We will be ungovernable until this government starts working for us, until the attacks on our bodies subside, until the right to abortion is codified into law.”

Several thousand abortion rights advocates gathered in a Chicago park, including US Representative Sean Casten and his 15-year-old daughter Audrey.

Casten, whose district includes Chicago’s western suburbs, told Reuters it was “horrible” that the conservative Supreme Court would consider taking away the right to abortion and “condemning women to this inferior status.”

Democrats, who currently hold the White House and both houses of Congress, hope the reaction to the Supreme Court decision will lead their party’s candidates to victory in November’s congressional elections.

But voters will weigh abortion rights against other issues, such as rising food and gas prices, and may be skeptical about the Democrats’ ability to protect access to abortion after efforts to pass legislation that would enshrine the right to abortion. abortion in federal law have failed.

“I can understand that people don’t like the idea of ​​abortion, but it should still be available,” said Brita Van Rossum, a 62-year-old landscaper who traveled from Philadelphia to Washington to demonstrate.

Last week, protesters gathered outside the homes of Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, according to the leaked opinion.

Judge Clarence Thomas told a conference in Dallas on Friday that trust within the courtroom was “gone forever” after the leak.

“When you lose that trust, especially in the institution that I’m in, it fundamentally changes the institution,” the conservative judge said.

Source: CNN Brasil

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