{"id":21773,"date":"2022-05-15T06:58:56","date_gmt":"2022-05-15T06:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/?p=21773"},"modified":"2022-05-15T06:58:56","modified_gmt":"2022-05-15T06:58:56","slug":"abortion-right-supporters-rally-in-anger-over-post-roe-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/2022\/05\/15\/abortion-right-supporters-rally-in-anger-over-post-roe-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Abortion Right Supporters rally in anger over post-Roe future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Abortion rights supporters demonstrating at hundreds of marches and rallies Saturday expressed their outrage that the Supreme Court appears prepared to scrap the constitutional right to abortion that has endured for nearly a half–<\/span>century and their fear about what that could mean for women\u2019s reproductive choices.<\/p>\n

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Incensed after a leaked draft opinion suggested the court\u2019<\/span>s conservative majority would overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling, activists spoke of the need to mobilize quickly because Republican–<\/span>led states are poised to enact tighter restrictions.<\/p>\n

In the nation\u2019s capital, thousands gathered in drizzly weather at the Washington Monument to listen to fiery speeches before marching to the Supreme Court, which was surrounded by two layers of security fences.<\/p>\n

The mood was one of anger and defiance, three days after the Senate failed to muster enough votes to codify Roe v. Wade.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI can\u2019t believe that at my age, I\u2019m still having to protest over this,\u201d said Samantha Rivers, a 64–<\/span>year–<\/span>old federal government employee who is preparing for a state–<\/span>by–<\/span>state battle over abortion rights.<\/p>\n

Caitlin Loehr, 34, of Washington, wore a black T–<\/span>shirt with an image of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg\u2019s \u201cdissent\u201d collar on it and a necklace that spelled out \u201cvote.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that women should have the right to choose what to do with their bodies and their lives. And I don\u2019t think banning abortion will stop abortion. It just makes it unsafe and can cost a woman her life,\u201d Loehr said.<\/p>\n

A half–<\/span>dozen anti–<\/span>abortion demonstrators sent out a countering message, with Jonathan Darnel shouting into a microphone, \u201cAbortion is not health care, folks, because pregnancy is not an illness.\u201d<\/p>\n

From Pittsburgh to Los Angeles, and Nashville, Tennessee, to Lubbock, Texas, tens of thousands participated in events, where chants of \u201cBans off our bodies!\u201d and \u201cMy body, my choice!\u201d rang out. The gatherings were largely peaceful, but in some cities there were tense confrontations between people on opposing sides of the issue.<\/p>\n

Polls show that most Americans want to preserve access to abortion \u2014 at least in the earlier stages of pregnancy \u2014 but the Supreme Court appeared to be poised to let the states have the final say. If that happens, roughly half of states, mostly in the South and Midwest, are expected to quickly ban abortion.<\/p>\n

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Abortion rights supporters demonstrating at hundreds of marches and rallies Saturday expressed their outrage the US Supreme Court will soon scrap the constitutional right to abortion that has endured for nearly a half–<\/span>century. (May 14)<\/div>\n

The battle was personal for some who came out Saturday. In Seattle, some protesters carried photographic images of conservative justices\u2019<\/span>heads on sticks.<\/p>\n

Teisha Kimmons, who traveled 80 miles to attend the Chicago rally, said she fears for women in states that are ready to ban abortion. She said she might not be alive today if she had not had a legal abortion when she was 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was already starting to self harm and I would have rather died than have a baby,\u201d said Kimmons, a massage therapist from Rockford, Illinois.<\/p>\n

At that rally, speaker after speaker said that if abortion is banned that the rights of immigrants, minorities and others will also be \u201cgutted,\u201d as Amy Eshleman, wife of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot put it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis has never been just about abortion. It\u2019s about control,\u201d Eshleman told the crowd of thousands. \u201cMy marriage is on the menu and we cannot and will not let that happen.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In New York, thousands of people gathered in Brooklyn\u2019s courthouse plaza before a march across the Brooklyn Bridge to lower Manhattan for another rally.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re here for the women who can\u2019t be here, and for the girls who are too young to know what is ahead for them,\u201d Angela Hamlet, 60, of Manhattan, said to the backdrop of booming music.<\/p>\n

Robin Seidon, who traveled from Montclair, New Jersey, for the rally, said the nation was at a place abortion rights supporters have long feared.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been nibbling at the edges, and it was always a matter of time before they thought they had enough power on the Supreme Court, which they have now,\u201d<\/span> said Seidon, 65.<\/p>\n

The upcoming high court ruling in a case from Mississippi stands to energize voters, potentially shaping the upcoming midterm elections.<\/p>\n

In Texas, which has a strict law banning many abortions, the challenger to one of the last anti–<\/span>abortion Democrats in Congress marched in San Antonio.<\/p>\n

Jessica Cisneros joined demonstrators just days before early voting begins in her primary runoff against U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, which could be one of the first tests over whether the court leak will galvanize voters.<\/p>\n

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In Chicago, Kjirsten Nyquist, a nurse toting daughters ages 1 and 3, agreed about the need to vote. \u201cAs much as federal elections, voting in every small election matters just as much,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

At many of the rallies, speakers put the issue in stark terms, saying people will die if abortions are outlawed.<\/p>\n

In Los Angeles, high–<\/span>profile lawyer Gloria Allred recounted how she could not get a legal abortion after being raped at gunpoint in the 1960s. She said she ended up having life–<\/span>threatening bleeding after a \u201cback alley\u201d abortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want you to vote as though your lives depend on it, because they do,\u201d she told the crowd.<\/p>\n

AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Abortion rights supporters demonstrating at hundreds of marches and rallies Saturday expressed their outrage that the Supreme Court appears prepared to scrap the constitutional right to abortion that has endured for nearly a half–century and their fear about what that could mean for women\u2019s reproductive choices. Incensed after a leaked draft opinion suggested the court\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":21776,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_post_source_name":"","_post_source_url":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[49,12],"tags":[6493,10956,4836,9951,8348,5777,6573,8173,5878,5590,11583,7960,854,6693,10000,10507,11139,9171,6576,10505,5241,911,8057,3577,6916,2264,12634,8850,5731,988,9222,10419,10342,10776,9765,7123,11743,11237,5802,5331,10311,9772,5058,9776,2323,990,3230,11973,8353,9746,9325,5561,11171,5333,7342,6944,1920,7344,13057,5655,8501,9277,1825,9810,6691,5355,6348,7354,2354,9085,3954,5273,5320,594,5140],"class_list":["post-21773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life-style","category-world-news","tag-abortion","tag-abortion-rights","tag-access","tag-age","tag-ban","tag-banned","tag-black","tag-bridge","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-bridge","tag-capital","tag-case","tag-chicago","tag-congress","tag-conservative","tag-court","tag-courthouse","tag-crowd","tag-democrats","tag-die","tag-died","tag-election","tag-fear","tag-future","tag-gloria-allred","tag-government","tag-health","tag-henry","tag-high-court","tag-illinois","tag-immigrants","tag-justice","tag-law","tag-lawyer","tag-leaked","tag-los-angeles","tag-majority","tag-manhattan","tag-marriage","tag-mayor","tag-midwest","tag-mississippi","tag-music","tag-nashville","tag-new-jersey","tag-new-york","tag-nurse","tag-one","tag-outrage","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pregnancy","tag-protest","tag-protesters","tag-rally","tag-raped","tag-republican","tag-samantha","tag-san-antonio","tag-scrap","tag-security","tag-senate","tag-speaker","tag-supreme-court","tag-supreme-court-justice","tag-tennessee","tag-texas","tag-us","tag-us-supreme-court","tag-washington","tag-weather","tag-will","tag-woman","tag-women","tag-who","tag-young"],"blocksy_meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21773"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21773\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21773"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21773"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nsemgh.com\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}