Chanting, yelling and singing their way down Constitution Avenue, tens of thousands of abortion opponents marched through the cold Friday in the annual March for Life, marking the 37th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
UPDATE 1/23/10: Record large pro-life march in San Francisco (see video)
-- From "Abortion opponents rally on the Mall on Roe v. Wade anniversary" by William Wan, Washington Post Staff Writer 1/22/10
. . . the message this year centered on fighting the now stalled healthcare reform package and ensuring any future healthcare plans prohibit the use of federal funding for abortions.
Many at the rally cited the election of Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts as sign of a shifting momentum to conservative causes like their own.
"Any people from Massachusetts here today?" asked U.S. Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), one of several members of congress who spoke a the rally on the Mall. "Thank you Massachusetts. Thank you for helping us kill the anti-life bill," he said referring to the Democrats' filibuster-proof majority in the Senate that will be broken once Brown is sworn in.
During his eight years in office, former President George W. Bush often greeted marchers with a message from Camp David or other locations where he was traveling, expressing support for their cause. Bush appointed two Supreme Court justices who have voted to uphold federal restrictions on some abortion procedures.
Last year, as the march took place during his first few weeks in office, President Barack Obama issued a statement reaffirming his support for a woman's right to choose to end her pregnancy.
To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.
