Protests across US over abortion rights; Supreme Court leak probed

Protesters rallied under the slogan "off our bodies" in cities across the United States on Tuesday, demanding abortion rights be protected after the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.

Thousands of people turned out for an abortion-rights rally in New York City, one of the largest demonstrations as Americans awoke to political and social upheaval, months before voters go to the polls in congressional midterm elections.

"I hope it inspires people to show up in the midterms and vote, and that's the one thing that I'm looking at as a positive," Alaina Feehan, 41, a talent manager in New York City, told Reuters, calling the moment a "call to action."

Protests were held in US cities coast to coast, including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles and Seattle, as the national Women's March organization urged supporters to bring families and signs to "courthouses and federal buildings everywhere" promoting the social media hashtag #BansOffOurBodies."

The Senate Majority Leader in the US, Chuck Schumer, said he plans to hold a vote as early as next week on enshrining the right to an abortion into federal law.

But the Democrats will not be able to muster enough votes to pass the measure.

Senator Elizabeth Warren said she as angry and upset.

"This what the Republicans have been working towards this day for decades.

"They have been out there plotting, carefully cultivating these Supreme Court justices, so they could have a majority on the bench who could accomplish something the majority of Americans do not want."

An ABC/Washington Post poll conducted just last week showed 54 percent of Americans thought Roe should be upheld, and 28 percent believed it should be overturned.

The Supreme Court itself became the epicentre for some of the earliest protests on both sides of the issue after the surprise publication of the 98-page draft ruling late on Monday by the news outlet Politico.

Demonstrators converged on the sidewalk just beyond the barricaded marble steps of the courthouse across from the US Capitol, boisterously but peacefully voicing support for and opposition to ending a constitutional right to abortion nationwide.

Several dozen anti-abortion activists dominated the protests early in the day, beating on drums and chanting through megaphones: "Pro-choice is a lie, babies never choose to die," and "Abortion is violence, abortion is oppression."

Some knelt in prayer.

One man wearing a pink sweatshirt in support of Roe v. Wade tried in vain to tamp down the chants of an anti-Roe protester by holding his hand over her megaphone.

'We're going backwards'

Abortion rights advocates shouted back, "Off our bodies" and "abortion saves lives." Others held signs reading, "Abortion is healthcare" and "Abortion is not a dirty word." One sign displayed by a group identifying as Roman Catholics supporting abortion access said: "Thou shalt not steal my civil rights".

By late afternoon, a larger and growing assembly of well over 1000 abortion-rights protesters held sway, with about two dozen anti-abortion activists relegated to the sidelines, one of them yelling, "Abortion is murder" through a megaphone.

"I just feel that we're going backwards," Jane Moore, 64, said of the prospect that Roe, which legalised abortion nationally nearly 50 years ago, could be struck down. "It actually breaks my heart and makes me angry at the same time."

"It makes me very afraid. I feel very sorry for ... young women. You're starting all over again," Paula Termini, 70, a nurse who has worked in delivery rooms and Planned Parenthood clinics, told Reuters outside the court. "It's going to take a long time to get those gains back again."

The protests in Washington were a prelude to rallies planned by abortion rights advocates in cities across the country.

About 300 people gathered in downtown Atlanta just outside the city's Centennial Olympic Park on Tuesday evening, their chants in support of abortion rights drowned out periodically by the din of honking horns from passing motorists.

"We will fight in these streets, we will fight in every street in America if we need to," said 19-year-old Wendy Nevarez-Sanchez, holding a "Hands off my uterus" sign.

In the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, some protesters carried coat hangers, a grim reference to "back-alley" abortions that experts say could become common again in states where abortion is outlawed.

Addressing abortion-rights demonstrators in Seattle, Governor Jay Inslee declared, "Washington state is a pro-choice state and we're going to fight like hell to keep Washington a pro-choice state. That's why we're here today."

Perhaps the day's largest rally emerged in New York City, where at least 2000 abortion-rights protesters assembled in lower Manhattan's Foley Square, waving signs with such slogans as "Bans Off Our Bodies" and "Abortion is Freedom."

"I'm here standing up for my people. I'm here to say that reproductive justice is immigrant justice," said Diana Moreno, 34, pointing to how low-income women and the undocumented would be disproportionately affected by the loss of abortion rights.

A handful of demonstrators around Foley Square waded into the street and briefly blocked traffic.

One of the more colourful acts of anti-abortion protest earlier in the day emerged in San Francisco, where a man calling himself the "Pro-Life Spider-Man" scaled a downtown skyscraper while posting video footage of his climb on Instagram. Local news media reported that police took the man into custody.

Abortion leak exposes US Supreme Court in disarray

The leak of a draft US Supreme Court ruling overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion rights decision shows a once-staid body creaking under pressure as its increasingly assertive conservative majority looks to upend the law on a range of major issues.

The court's hard-won reputation as the grown-up branch of government is now slipping away. The disclosure of the draft was the latest in a string of controversies ensnaring the court, intended to be a nonpartisan body.

Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas has been under fire from Democrats over the role of his wife, Ginni Thomas, as an outspoken supporter of Republican former President Donald Trump, including his efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat based on false claims of widespread voting fraud.

Justice Neil Gorsuch, one of three Trump appointees who helped build a 6-3 conservative majority on the court, drew scrutiny in January when he was the only person inside the courtroom not to wear a face mask during the surge of the Omicron coronavirus variant. The court also lagged in confirming the planned retirement of liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, taking a full day to do so after that news surfaced in January.

The unprecedented leak of a draft opinion - one that would overturn a nearly 50-year-old precedent - adds to a sense that all is not well within the court's marble hallways, said Chicago-Kent College of Law Professor Carolyn Shapiro, who formerly served as a Breyer clerk.

"It certainly seems like the long-standing norms of the institution are under a severe amount of pressure," Shapiro said. "It seems as if the polarization we are experiencing in the country is similarly being experienced on the court."

The leaker's identity has not been disclosed. A relatively small number of people have access to such draft opinions, including law clerks for the nine justices, court administrative staff and the justices themselves.

Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday announced an internal investigation.

"To the extent this betrayal of the confidences of the court was intended to undermine the integrity of our operations, it will not succeed," Roberts said.

'Very troubling'

University of Notre Dame Law School Professor Richard Garnett, formerly a clerk for the late conservative Chief Justice William Rehnquist, called it "very troubling that any employee or member of the court would violate what is a very clear rule about the confidentiality of the justices' deliberations."

Leaks are common in the White House and Congress as factions jostle to advance their goals, but the court long was immune from such actions. Over the decades, justices have repeated the refrain that they are above politics and maintain friendships with one another despite ideological differences.

"While we may sometimes disagree about the law, we are warm colleagues and friends," Gorsuch and liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in a January joint statement after media reports that Sotomayor, whose diabetes is a risk factor for Covid-19 complications, wanted him to wear a mask.

The justices by the end of June are expected to issue not only the abortion ruling but one in a case that gives its conservatives a chance to greatly expand gun rights. They also have taken up a case that gives the conservative justices the opportunity to end policies used by universities to increase Black and Hispanic student enrolment.

The conservative majority in January blocked Democratic President Joe Biden's nationwide Covid-19 vaccine-or-test requirement for large businesses and last year let Texas enforce a law that circumvented Roe v. Wade by letting private citizens enforce the state's Republican-backed ban on abortion after about six weeks of pregnancy.

Liberals are still furious at actions taken by Republicans to ensure that Trump could appoint three justices - Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett - in his four years in office, pushing the court rightward.

Republicans, when they controlled the Senate, had refused to consider a 2016 nominee by Trump's Democratic predecessor Barack Obama to fill a court vacancy, holding the seat open until 2017 to give Trump the ability to fill it. Republicans then rushed to confirm a replacement for the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg days before the 2020 election that Trump lost.

Some Republicans tried to blame the political left for the draft leak without offering evidence.

No criminal law specifically prohibits leaking draft judicial opinions, but other federal laws could apply including one barring theft of property or "things of value" to the US government, Columbia Law School Professor David Pozen said.

Government leaks are rarely prosecuted, Pozen added, and those that are typically involve classified information implicating national security. The leaker, if identified, could face other repercussions including loss of employment.

"I can't imagine there will be a criminal case," Pozen said.

- Reuters w/ BBC