Thousands of people protest in the US for the right to abortion before key elections

WASHINGTON, Oct 8, 2022 (AFP) – Thousands of people rallied in cities across the United States on Saturday to protest the annulment of the federal right to abortion by the Supreme Court and to urge voters to flock to a Democratic “blue wave” in next month’s key midterm elections.

In Washington, a crowd, mostly women, chanted “we will not go back” as they marched with signs calling for a “feminist tsunami” and urging people to “vote to save women’s rights.”

“I don’t want to have to go back to a different time,” Emily Bobal, an 18-year-old student, told AFP.

“It’s a bit ridiculous that we still have to do this in 2022,” he said, adding that he worries the conservative-dominated high court could target same-sex marriage.

Several protesters wore armbands or green scarves, color that symbolizes the right to abortion. Others wore blue – the color of the Democratic Party – with huge flags and banners calling for a symbolic “blue wave” of voters to go to the polls on November 8.

A few showed up and spoke out against it, some urging the crowd to “find Jesus Christ”, while others shouted that “abortion is murder”. They were greeted with boos.

Similar rallies took place in cities like New York and Denver.

Surveys show that the democrats They have only a slim chance of keeping control of the House, but their chances are better in the evenly split Senate, where Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is the tiebreaker.

While Republicans have campaigned mostly around rising prices, concerns about immigration and crime, Democrats led by President Joe Biden they want to transfer the debate to the right to abortion and the defense of democracy.

The supreme court In June, it ended decades of federal protection of abortion rights, leaving it up to each state to set its own standards.

Since then, several states led by republicans have prohibited or severely restricted access to the procedure, causing a series of legal challenges.

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