'Off our bodies': Abortion-rights protesters rally in US, spurred by draft Supreme Court opinion

The US Supreme Court rekindled America's decades-long struggle over abortion rights on Tuesday, confirming that a leaked draft opinion indicating that a majority of the nine justices would soon repeal the right was genuine.

The 1973 decision was regarded as "egregiously erroneous from the outset" in the document made by Justice Samuel Alito.

As Democrats in Washington and statehouses hurried to devise a response to safeguard a privilege that women in the United States have held for nearly half a century, President Joe Biden slammed the expected move as "extreme."

Protesters rallied in places across the United States under the banner "off our bodies."

Thousands of people turned out in New York City for an abortion-rights march, one of the largest in the country as Americans awoke to political and social turmoil months before the legislative midterm elections.

Protests were held or planned in cities across the United States, including Atlanta, Denver, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles, as the national Women's March urged supporters to bring their families and signs to "courthouses and federal buildings everywhere," using the hashtag #BansOffOurBodies on social media.

Meanwhile, anti-abortion demonstrators dominated the early-morning protests, beating drums and yelling over megaphones, "Pro-choice is a lie, babies never choose to die," and "Abortion is violence, abortion is tyranny."