Tens of thousands join US protests in support of abortion rights

Pro-choice campaigners protest outside the Supreme Court in Washington as part of nationwide demos (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Abortion rights supporters have staged hundreds of marches and rallies across the US to express outrage that the Supreme Court appears prepared to scrap the constitutional right to termination.

Incensed after a leaked draft opinion suggested the court’s conservative majority will overturn the landmark Roe v Wade ruling that has made abortion legal for nearly half a century, activists spoke of the need to mobilise quickly because Republican-led states are poised to enact tighter restrictions.