Demonstrators gather in U.S. cities to demand abortion rights

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- Women's March organizers said they planned 450 demonstrations across the United States on Saturday to demand abortion rights.

Hundreds of pro-abortion activists descended on Folger Park in southeast Washington, D.C. before marching onto Capitol Hill at noon.

"We won't go back, we won't go back," participants of Women's March could be heard chanting while a small group of counter-demonstrators appeared nearby to spread their messages.

Rallies calling for abortion rights were also held in New York, Charlotte, Phoenix, Seattle, Milwaukee, and other cities.

The U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in late June, which eliminated the constitutional protection of abortion rights for women.

In the 100 days since the reversal of the 1973 ruling, 66 clinics in the United States stopped providing abortion, according to an analysis published by the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights think tank, adding that nearly 22 million, or 29 percent, of women of reproductive age live in a state where abortion is banned or limited to a six-week gestational age.

Abortion has been one of the most divisive issues in the United States and is expected to be a top issue for American voters in the midterm elections in November.