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by Charlotte Plantive <\/p>\n
Washington \u2013 Thousands of people attended an annual anti-abortion rally Friday with their hopes raised this year that the conservative-majority Supreme Court will overturn the landmark ruling that legalised abortion in the United States 50 years ago.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
“We are hoping and praying that this year 2022 will bring a historic change for life,” said Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life.<\/p>\n
“Years of hard work and you coming here have brought us to this place,” Mancini told the anti-abortion activists shivering on a bitterly cold day on the National Mall in Washington.<\/p>\n
“This year is more of a celebration because we know that this year is the beginning of the end of abortion in America,” said Joseph Scordato, a 20-year-old from Wisconsin who was dressed as a medieval knight and carrying a giant cross.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
“The Future is Anti-Abortion,” read signs carried by members of the crowd, who descended on the nation’s capital from across the country.<\/p>\n
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments on December 1 about a Mississippi law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks, a case known as Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization.<\/p>\n
The court’s conservative wing — which includes three justices nominated by former president Donald Trump — appears ready to uphold the law and perhaps go further and overturn Roe v Wade, the 1973 case that legalized abortion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
If Roe is overturned, each of the 50 US states could potentially set its own abortion laws.<\/p>\n
Laws severely restricting abortion have been passed already in multiple Republican-led states, but have been struck down for violating Roe v Wade, which guaranteed a woman’s right to an abortion until the foetus is viable outside the womb, typically around 22 to 24 weeks.<\/p>\n
‘Light at the end of the tunnel’<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Activists at the march said that if Roe is overturned, they will continue their anti-abortion efforts in the states.<\/p>\n “I am so excited because this might be the last March for Life where Roe v Wade still exists in our country,” said Karlie Lodjic, 24, a member of “Students for Life” from Washington state.<\/p>\n “If it’s overturned, it won’t immediately outlaw abortion everywhere,” Lodjic said. “We’re still going to have work to do in each individual state and make sure that life is respected and protected everywhere.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Marsha Chamberlain, 72, from Pennsylvania, said she has been attending the march since 1985 and has only missed four.<\/p>\n “There is light at the end of the tunnel,” Chamberlain said. “It could be the last march and I pray that it is, that the Supreme Court will rule in favour of Mississippi and that states can decide for themselves to protect unborn people.”<\/p>\n Missy Martinez-Stone, 32, from Louisville, Kentucky, said she has been doing “pro-life work” for 17 years.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n “I always imagined that I would see the end of Roe versus Wade but I didn’t think it’d be so soon,” Martinez-Stone said.<\/p>\n “But I know that that’s not the end of it,” she said. “If it’s overturned on a federal level, it’s just going to go back to the states. And so we still have a lot of work to do.”<\/p>\n “I am optimistic but it doesn’t mean our work is done,” she said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Joshua Schulz, 42, from Pennsylvania, attended the march with three of his five children.<\/p>\n “I came here to stand in solidarity with other Americans who believe that all life is sacred,” Schulz said, “and to pray for an end to the sin of abortion.”<\/p>\n Decision by June<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Before hearing the Mississippi case, the Supreme Court declined on several recent occasions to block a Texas law that bans most abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, before most women even know they are pregnant.<\/p>\n The court is to render a decision in the Mississippi case by June.<\/p>\n Public opinion polls have found most Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But a segment of the population, particularly on the religious right, has never accepted the Roe v Wade ruling and has campaigned relentlessly to have it overturned.<\/p>\n Agence France-Presse (AFP)<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Charlotte Plantive Washington \u2013 Thousands of people attended an annual anti-abortion rally Friday with their hopes raised this year that the conservative-majority Supreme Court will overturn the landmark ruling that legalised abortion in the United States 50 years ago. “We are hoping and praying that this year 2022 will bring a historic change for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":760960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-760959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=760959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n\n\n\n\n\n