Abortion-rights protesters rally outside state capitol in Phoenix

Record ID: 1671291

  • Title: Abortion-rights protesters rally outside state capitol in Phoenix
  • Date: 4th May 2022
  • Summary: PHOENIX, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES (MAY 03, 2022) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY*** VARIOUS PROTESTORS CHANTING "WE WILL NOT GO BACK" CLOSE UP YOUNG ADULT CHANTING "WE WILL NOT GO BACK" CLOSE UP SIGN "WELCOME TO THE THEOCRACY" VARIOUS SIGNS AND PROTESTORS CLOSE UP SIGN "READY FOR POST-ROE AMERICA!" CLOSE UP SIGN "MURDER IS NOT HEALTHCARE" CLOSE UP SIGN "TRUST WOMEN" PROTESTORS MARCHING DOWN SIDEWALK IN DOWNTOWN PHOENIX (SOUNDBITE) (English) ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST, HALEY INGERSOLL, SAYING: "We are here to protest for women and we want to make sure that women have rights and that women have access to safe and legal abortion." ANTI-ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST CHANTING WIDE SHOT PROTESTORS MARCHING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST, HALEY INGERSOLL, SAYING: "It's really scary and I absolutely think that every woman in this country, every woman in Arizona, can potentially be affected by this and I absolutely would only vote in favor of somebody who supports women and their right to safe, legal abortions." VARIOUS PROTESTORS MARCHING, HOLDING SIGNS AND CHANTING "MY BODY, MY CHOICE" (SOUNDBITE) (English) ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST, ANA MARIA RIVERS, SAYING: "I'm here because abortion is healthcare. I'm here because I wanna make sure that my children have access to the same healthcare that we've been entitled to for the last 50 years. We shouldn't have to be out here marching again still, but I will as long as it takes." ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST BLOCKING ANTI ABORTION ACTIVIST WITH SIGN (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANTI-ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST, ETHAN SCHMIDT, SAYING: "Look at all these libtard zombies guys, look at all these libtard zombies. We're out here. Christ is lord guys, turn to Christ." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANTI-ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST, ETHAN SCHMIDT, SAYING: "Yeah I am just preaching Jesus, man. Jesus Christ wins. Abortion is murder and that is all I gotta say about it. Abortion is murder and god is gonna judge the country if we don't stop. If you all wanna kill your babies go to California where all the libtards are you know but you aren't gonna be able to kill babies in my state of Arizona. Anti-maskers club." VARIOUS PROTESTORS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST, LUIS PERALTA, SAYING: “Not only its an attack to women in the us but its also an attack to the right of privacy if they overturn Roe v Wade that gives precedent to turn over far many more supreme court decisions that are the right to privacy." BACK OF PROTESTORS MARCHING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST, LUIS PERALTA, SAYING: "I'm a teacher, I serve on a school board so that means that I have people that look up to me. I care about them. Removing this right, that's harmful to them. I have students who are trans, who are queer. This right, Roe v Wade if overturned, that also gives them the right to overturn gay marriage. That spirals onto many other things. That directly affects my students, my sister and people I know." VARIOUS CHANTING "MY BODY MY CHOICE" (SOUNDBITE) (English) ANTI-ABORTION RIGHTS ACTIVIST, WESTON SCHINN, SAYING: "We're here from the pro-life position we believe in equal protection for the for all which includes babies in the womb so we’re just out here to to try to bring awareness that life is a life from conception and they're also due equal protection under the constitution. We believe in abolishing abortion because ultimately you’re murdering a child for when you make that choice to abort and I and we don’t believe that that murdering a human is a choice. It's taking away self responsibility from choices that were made and it deprives that life of a legal protection under the constitution." VARIOUS CHANTING "SEPARATE CHURCH AND STATE"
  • Embargoed: 18th May 2022 06:14
  • Keywords: Arizona Phoenix Roe v. Wade Supreme Court abortion protest rally
  • Location: PHOENIX, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES
  • City: PHOENIX, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Crime/Law/Justice,Judicial Process/Court Cases/Court Decisions,United States
  • Reuters ID: LVA001561404052022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Protesters rallied under the slogan "off our bodies" in cities across the United States on Tuesday (May 3), demanding abortion rights be protected after the leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision.
    At a protest in Phoenix, Arizona, Ana Mari Rivers told Reuters abortion is healthcare.
    "I'm here because abortion is healthcare. I'm here because I wanna make sure that my children have access to the same healthcare that we've been entitled to for the last 50 years. We shouldn't have to be out here marching again still, but I will as long as it takes," she said.
    There were also anti-abortion activists at the rally, including Ethan Schmidt.
    "Yeah I am just preaching Jesus, man. Jesus Christ wins. Abortion is murder and that is all I gotta say about it. Abortion is murder and god is gonna judge the country if we don't stop," he said.
    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 U.S. 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 Supreme Court itself became the epicenter 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 U.S. 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.
    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 1,000 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 legalized 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."
    One of the more colorful acts of anti-abortion protest earlier in the day emerged in San Francisco, where a man calling himself the "Pro-Life Spiderman" scaled a downtown skyscraper while posting video footage of his climb on Instagram. Local news media reported that police took the man into custody.
    (Production: Liliana Salgado)
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