A green tide dyes the streets of the United States after the Supreme Court's decision on abortion

Participants in the protest march in New York, this Friday. JUSTIN LANE (EFE)

In front of the imposing Supreme Court building in Washington, closed tight and protected by a three-meter-high fence, a woman dressed in a red cape and her face covered by a white cap held a sign this Friday at sunset that said : "This is not fiction."

She did not want to reveal her name: "Names are not important, symbols are."

And that symbol, a reference to Margaret Atwood's novel (and series)

Handmaid's Tale, could only, for her, have meaning at the end of a historic day, in which the high court overturned the

, who constitutionally enshrined the right to abortion in the United States in 1973: "Dystopia has become a reality in my country."

The woman-symbol was among the thousands of people who protested in Washington at the end of the afternoon for a decision that returns to the States the power to regulate the health of 36 million women of reproductive age, and that has serious consequences for the citizens of 26 of the 50 States, who have announced their willingness to enact restrictive laws immediately.

The movement in favor of abortion also took to the streets in cities such as New York, where thousands of people demonstrated, Los Angeles, Nashville, Detroit, Boston or Atlanta, among others, in a peaceful environment in which the rage than the happiness of the encounter.

It was the start of a mobilization that will continue throughout the weekend in at least 70 cities.

In Washington, protesters swarmed the promenade that winds up a gentle hill, past the stark-white neoclassical bulk of the courthouse on one side and the gardens leading to the Capitol on the other.

The judiciary and the legislature, face to face.

And in the middle, a crowd, especially of women (and for the most part, young), who, as Andrea Fuller explained, did not know “how to channel their anger” well and felt disappointed by both.

“Those over there,” said Princeton student Julia Elman, referring to Democratic politicians who paraded through the rally all day, “ask us to vote.

But we already voted for them!”

"They have control of the Senate," she added, "the House of Representatives and the White House, and they haven't been able to codify

."

Elman was referring to the aspiration, an effort until now doomed to melancholy, to push through a law that protects abortion in the United States and separates it from the ups and downs of jurisprudence, which can change, even with a half-century precedent, the same time it takes to alter the composition of the nine members of the Supreme Court.

“It must be recognized that the Republicans have mounted a master strategy.

It has taken them time, but they have achieved it”, considered Andrea Fuller, to explain the way in which in just six years, “thanks to the ruthless patience of Mitch McConnell [leader of the conservative party in the Senate]”, they have shaped a conservative majority from six to three, after President Trump managed to introduce a trio of magistrates with the express intention of overthrowing the right to abortion.

The concentration before the Supreme has begun as the sentence has been known, after 10 in the morning, East Coast time.

The news has been received with joy and champagne by a handful of anti-abortionists who were stationed at the fences of the court early in the morning.

During the following hours, the supporters of one and the other side have demonstrated face to face.

But then the anti-abortionists have been leaving the place and only the supporters of women's right to decide have remained.

At five in the afternoon, he had called a rally on the esplanade of the capital's train station, in which Ilhan Omar (representative for Minnesota) and the mayor of Washington, Muriel Bowser, spoke.

"Today, people have realized two things: that they have lost important health coverage that they took for granted, and that our Supreme Court is a nest of radicals," said Colorado Democratic congresswoman Diana once she stepped down from the podium. of Gette.

At the end of the speeches, the group of about a thousand people followed Alexis McGill, executive director of Planned Parenthood, one of the most important groups in defense of abortion in the United States, towards the Supreme Court, which is about 700 meters away. of the station.

They have marched between shouts of “My body, my choice” to join those gathered at the courthouse doors,

who have been greeted with proclamations of “Fuck the Court!”

(fuck the court).

The first of the motto resounded strongly through the streets of Manhattan (New York).

A double call in two different squares, the first "that of rage" and the second, "that of care", converged in a march led by Afro-Americans, Latinas and representatives of other minorities in which the green tide of abortion activists mixed generously with a sea of ​​rainbow flags.

While a protester who refused to identify herself was

, lying on the ground on a supposedly bloody white towel, with her legs open and her underwear also stained red, while holding a hanger -symbol of illegal abortion-, the Marina sisters, from 67 years old, and Elizabeth, 68, waved a sign that could read "Supreme Misogyny", like the border of a photograph of the Supreme Court judges.

"I have a two-year-old granddaughter," Elizabeth said, "and she will have to come here every day if we don't do something."

“We already demonstrated in favor of abortion before

, but then we didn't have the right;

now it's very different, it's the first time they've ripped it out of our hands”, explained Marina.

“If the Republicans take control of the House [in the mid-term elections], we will definitely have lost.

That is why I would only say one thing to the young women who are demonstrating here today: to vote, to vote in November”, added Marina, fearful that the economic situation and other daily issues will banish the fight for civil rights from immediate concerns.

Next to them was Nancy, 77, Elizabeth's partner for decades.

"What is happening is terrifying, because they will not stop there, the next thing will be to ban homosexual marriage, and then other rights will follow," said Nancy.

"The ban will especially affect women without resources and marginalized, because any New Yorker will be able to continue having an abortion without problems, and also the daughters of politicians, I am sure that Trump has paid for a few abortions," concluded Marina.

Next to her, a friend of the three held up a banner with a clear message: “Remember this in November”, in the mid-term elections.

“That my daughter has fewer rights than me is not acceptable”

Mangana and Maya, mother and daughter, demonstrated together, with a sign that read "Guns have more rights than women."

“We are here today because my daughter is going to have less rights than me and that is not acceptable.

I left Iran to be free and now I am going backwards”, explained Mangana, who came to the US after the Islamic revolution of 1979. The girl, who proudly said that she is starting at the University of Berkeley next year, has already spoken out for other causes, such as gun control or immigration.

“I am as terrified as I am furious, although I do not expect anything from the mobilization, the judges are entrenched in the sentence, and they are going to curtail other rights, one after another.

But at least they should know that they have us against them, staying at home is not an option, today less than ever, ”she said.

At his side, Raymond Lotta, spokesman for a group called The RevComs (communist revolutionaries), imparted doctrine on the opportunity that, in his opinion, represents the anger of civil society over the Supreme Court ruling.

“It is the tip of the iceberg of the fascist involution of the country, perceptible at all levels: the Supreme Court, the governors, the Army… We aspire to subvert the system and I believe that abortion can precipitate it, it is the gap that has filled patience of the people, who are very pissed off.

Because this time they have gone too far: they have denied women their full humanity,” he said.

In the protest, much more numerous after the march from the nearby university campus was incorporated, there was a variety of sensitivities: from representatives of a group called Jews for abortion, to the abundant Latin current -Hispanics, as a minority, will be the most affected along with Afro-Americans -, which today revived the green tide that has swept the continent in recent years.

A young Colombian woman who declined to be identified wore a green handkerchief written in Spanish around her neck.

“It is terrible, not only for the United States but for the region, because many of the decisions that have been made in this regard in Latin America are inspired by

.

Colombia in fact cites this sentence in the legalization of abortion”, explained the young woman, who lives in New York.

“This is going to be difficult to reverse, I do not expect anything at the judicial level, if it depends on the States we are going the wrong way… Only Congress… Because this is the tip of an iceberg, that is why so many LGTBI groups have gathered here today, but also from the left and from workers.

It is a setback for the entire region.”

The barely festive atmosphere, and yes one of contained rage, was mitigated by an amber light from the west.