Abortion protests from both sides of the debate were prevented from clashing in Melbourne, with police removing abortion rights supporters who infiltrated a rally from the abortion rights opponent group.
A protester shaved their head on stage at the ‘March for the Babies’ rally on Saturday, before members of Victoria Police force removed them from stage.
Another person then held a banner reading ‘women life freedom’ on stage at the rally, which was organised by former Liberal Party MP Bernie Finn.
They weren’t the only ones from the abortion rights camp to protest within the abortion rights opponent rally.
As Mr Finn was speaking on stage, three people began undressing to reveal slogans written on tank tops, with one of them shouting, “our body, our rights”.
Two were then removed by police, while another left shortly afterwards.
Police also clashed with abortion rights advocate protesters as they held a counter-protest to the March for the Babies rally, as police tried to prevent a clash between the two sides.
Protesters during a 'March for the Babies' anti-abortion rally in Melbourne on Saturday, 8 October 2022. Source: AAP / JOEL CARRETT/AAPIMAGE
Abortion protests held in the US as well
Thousands also marched in cities across the United States on Saturday to protest the Supreme Court's overturning of the federal right to abortion and to urge voters to turn out in a Democratic "blue wave" in next month's key midterm elections.
In Washington, a crowd of mostly women chanted, "We won't go back" as they marched.
They carried posters 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.
Demonstrators hold signs during a rally to defend abortion access and codify Roe v Wade into law in Foley Square in New York City on 8 October 2022. Source: Getty / AFP
"The majority of us are ready to get out and fight for democracy and fight for people's bodily autonomy, women and men," said Kimberly Allen, 70.
With Democrats battling to maintain their narrow control of Congress, the midterm elections could have a decisive impact on the future of such rights, she said.
Several marchers wore armbands or scarves of green, a colour symbolising abortion rights.
Others wore blue — the colour of the Democratic Party — and carried huge flags and banners calling for a symbolic "blue wave" of voters to go to the polls on 8 November.
Anti-abortion protesters confront an abortion rights activist during a rally for women's rights in Foley Square on 8 October 2022 in New York City. Source: Getty / Jeenah Moon
Similar rallies took place in cities including New York and Denver, Colorado.
"The #WomensWave is coming for EVERY anti-abortion politician, no matter where they live," Rachel O'Leary Carmona, executive director of the nonprofit Women's March organisation, said on Twitter.
She urged people to elect "more women" as well as male candidates who support abortion rights.
Polls show Democrats only have a slim possibility of maintaining control of the House of Representatives, but their chances are better in the evenly-divided Senate, where Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is the tie-breaking vote.
While Republicans have been campaigning largely on soaring prices, immigration concerns, and urban crime, Democrats led by President Joe Biden want to shift the debate to abortion rights and the defence of American democracy.
The Supreme Court in June ended the decades-long federal protection of abortion rights, leaving it to individual states to set their own rules.
Since then, several Republican-led states have banned or severely curtailed access to the procedure, provoking a series of legal challenges.
In the latest development, an appeals court in the southwestern state of Arizona on Friday blocked — at least for now — a near-total ban on abortions.
