“My body, my choice”, thousands of people protest in New York in favor of abortion

The decision of the Supreme Court of USA of prohibiting the right to abortion took thousands of protesters to the streets of New York this Friday who warned “Take away our rights and we will disobey.”

Mostly young people, and especially women, claim their right to decide about their body. “My body, my choice”, was repeated as a mantra among the attendees, many with green scarves, a symbol of the fight for abortion that was born in Argentina and spread throughout the continent, to demand this “human right”.

Look: US Supreme Court strikes down constitutional right to abortion

The improvised banners written on a piece of cardboard or a sheet of paper and the different calls to demonstrate first in Union Square, later in Washington Square and to conclude a third again in Union Square, show the surprise it caused, not least expected, the decision of the Supreme Court, which by 6 votes in favor and 3 against erased with a stroke of the pen the right that the citizens of this country had enjoyed for half a century.

Demonstrators for the right to abortion march during a protest in New York, USA. (Stephanie Keith / Bloomberg /)

You could feel the rage and helplessness of a generation that feels increasingly alienated from judges who, they say, do not represent it. “Pro weapons + Pro life = hypocrites”could be read on a banner alluding to the decision the day before, also by the Supreme Court, to overturn a century-old law in the state of New York that required a special permit to carry weapons in public.

People march during a protest for abortion rights in reaction to today’s US Supreme Court decision in the Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization case in New York, New York, USA. (EFE/EPA /JUSTIN LANE/)

As of Friday night, at least seven states had banned abortion: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

States governed by Democrats, such as New York, California, Oregon or the state of Washington, have promised that they will become “sanctuaries” for women who wish to have an abortion.

Demonstrators for the right to abortion during a protest in Union Square in New York, USA. (Stephanie Keith / Bloomberg /)

New York Governor Kathy Hochul was the first to denounce on Friday the “rolling back the rights of millions of Americans” and even promised to “invest $35 million to facilitate access to abortion services.”

“What comes next? Contraception, gay sex, same-sex marriage? They decide”warned another banner echoing the fear of the three progressive magistrates of the court, who warned that the ruling “endangers other rights to privacy”a fear fueled by the call of one of the conservative judges, Clarence Thomas, to reopen these files.

Abortion rights advocates protest in New York after the US Supreme Court ruled in the Dobbs v Women’s Health Organization abortion case, overturning the landmark Roe v Wade abortion decision, in New York, USA. (REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs/)

Source: Elcomercio