On the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, nearly half a million Americans gathered at the Mall in Washington D.C. for the annual March for Life showing support for unborn human life, while the mainstream media, understating the crowd, either ignored the event altogether, or focused on the handful of pro-abortion protesters.
Read also, Obama Celebrates Roe v. Wade Anniversary
UPDATE 1/27/11 - CBS News video "GOP Pushes for New Abortion Limits:"
From "March Marks 38th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade" by Tom Sherwood, NBC TV-4 Washington, D.C. 1/24/11
Tens of thousands of people braved the cold and took to the streets of downtown D.C. Monday for the annual March for Life . . . [which] condemns the 1973 Supreme Court that set off an on-going battle in American politics.
More than three dozen lawmakers addressed the crowd during the two-hour rally before the march. Buoyed by Republican gains in the November elections, the lawmakers called for the landmark ruling to be overturned, the Associated Press reported. They said they would work to restrict tax dollars for abortions.
Small groups of anti-protesters said the country should remain pro-choice.
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From "Activists at March for Life Rally Demand Tougher Abortion Laws, Overturn of Roe v. Wade" by Huma Khan and Amy Bingham, ABC News 1/24/11
"We are here because Roe v. Wade is bad law. We are here because we believe it was wrongly decided," said Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. "We believe Roe v. Wade has led to a three-and-a-half decades-long holocaust in the United States of America, and it amounts to a stain on our national conscience, and it's time for it to end."
Wicker, who for years has attempted to pass his "Life at Conception Act," today announced that he will reintroduce the bill in the Senate Tuesday. The legislation would establish that human life begins at conception and calls for legal protection for fetuses.
"It's time for the 14th Amendment protection to be afforded to the unborn," he said.
The rally comes as the new Republican Majority House has made abortion one of its top priorities and reopened the controversial debate. Last week, Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, introduced legislation [HR 3] that would ban federal funding for abortion, calling it one of the House's "top legislative priorities."
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From "Thousands of abortion opponents rally in march on Mall" by Michelle Boorstein and Ben Pershing, Washington Post Staff Writers 1/24/11
Some signs and buttons were evergreen: "De-fund Planned Parenthood," "I was adopted not aborted" and "I regret my abortion." Others mentioned President Obama, whom the movement hopes will be challenged by recently elected conservatives. "Stop the Obama abortion agenda," a common sign said.
. . . House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said the new Republicans in Congress are the "biggest and the most pro-life freshman class in memory."
Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.) also introduced a measure that supporters say would ensure that the health-care reform bill passed last year doesn't allow funding for abortion coverage. . . . In his comments to the crowd Monday, Smith called Obama "the abortion president."
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From "Hundreds of thousands assemble against abortion in DC" by Benjamin Mann, Catholic News Agency 1/24/11
For the first time ever, the morning rally events that preceded the March for Life took place at two locations – the Verizon Center and D.C. Armory – to accommodate larger-than-usual crowds. Growing youth participation, possibly assisted by online social media, has nearly quadrupled the size of the march during the past decade.
In the afternoon, the demonstrators assembled on the Washington Mall before proceeding to the steps of the Supreme Court. Although the city of Washington, D.C. does not provide estimates of the crowd size at the yearly event, organizers predicted that up to 400,000 people would participate in this year's march.
The evening before the event, thousands gathered in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for the opening Mass of the National Prayer Vigil for Life. Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston, Texas and chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, celebrated the Mass for a capacity crowd at the nation's largest Catholic church.
“Americans love life as much as we love freedom,” [House Speaker John Boehner] said, indicating that public policy should never seek to balance the freedom of one individual against the vulnerable life of another, but must always respect both. In an authentic vision of freedom, he said, these “founding principles” – individual liberty, and the right to life – are inseparably “intertwined, and form the basis of our national character.”
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Last year's March for Life (January 2010):
