Thousands take to street in US cities in protest against threat to abortion rights

ABORTION rights supporters staged hundreds of marches and rallies across the US to express outrage that the Supreme Court appears prepared to scrap the right to termination.

Incensed after a leaked draft opinion suggested the court’s conservative majority will overturn the landmark Roe v Wade ruling that has made abortion legal for nearly half a century, activists spoke of the need to mobilise quickly because Republican-led states are poised to enact tighter restrictions.

In the nation’s capital, thousands gathered at the Washington Monument on Saturday to listen to speeches before marching to the Supreme Court, which was surrounded by security fences.

The mood was one of anger and defiance, days after the Senate failed to muster enough votes to enshrine Roe v Wade as federal law.

The gatherings were largely peaceful, but in some cities there were tense confrontations between people on opposing sides of the debate.

Polls show most Americans want to preserve access to abortion – at least in the earlier stages of pregnancy – but the Supreme Court appears to be poised to let states have the final say.

If that happens, roughly half of states, mostly in the South and Midwest, are expected to quickly ban abortion.

At the rally, speaker after speaker said that if abortion is banned, the rights of immigrants, minorities and others will also be “gutted”.

Another rally was held in New York, where thousands gathered in Brooklyn’s courthouse plaza before marching to lower Manhattan.