March for Life eyes next objective
At first post-Roe rally, activists call on Congress to act
WASHINGTON — A half-century after Roe v. Wade, March for Life supporters on Friday celebrated the Supreme Court’s dismantling of that constitutional right to abortion and heralded the political struggle set loose by the court’s decision. President Joe Biden pledged to do all in his limited power to restore core abortion rights.
The first March for Life since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June came with a new focus. Instead of concentrating their attention on the court, the marchers vowed to push for action from the building directly across the street: the U.S. Capitol.
Congress, movement leaders say, must be warned against making any attempt to curtail the multiple antiabortion laws imposed last year in a dozen states.
Thousands spread across a section of the National Mall for the event, the Capitol Building in sight.
“For nearly 50 years, you have marched to proclaim the fundamental dignity of women, of their children and of life itself,” Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, whose office argued the case that overturned Roe v. Wade, told the crowd. “But this year is different.”
Indeed, with the constitutional victory behind them and lawmakers now the ones to be persuaded, marchers took a new route along the western face of the Capitol, to their usual destination between that complex and the court.
“I am the post-Roe generation,” read one sign. “Excommunicate Pro-Choice Catholics,” said another. Banners proclaimed “Love
Them Both,” meaning mother and child.
Tammy Milligan came dressed as “patriot Wonder Woman” and stood out in the crowd. She said she never thought Roe v. Wade would be overruled in her lifetime, but the fight doesn’t stop there. “We want it to be unthinkable for a woman to have an abortion,” she said.
Biden offered his counterpoint in a proclamation recognizing Sunday — Jan. 22 — as the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. “Never before has the Court taken away a right so fundamental to Americans,” his statement said. “In doing so, it put the health and lives of women across this Nation at risk.”
He said he would continue to use his executive authority in any way he can to preserve
abortion protections while urging Congress to enshrine such rights in law.
The crowd appeared smaller than in past years but bore multiple hallmarks of previous marches in the enthusiasm of the gathering, the large numbers of young people from Catholic schools around the country and plenty of banners representing different churches and religious orders.
“The struggle has changed,” said Marion Landry, 68, who came from North Carolina with her husband, Arthur, 91, for the sixth time. “In some ways you don’t have that central focus anymore. Now it’s back to the states.”
From the stage, in a move to show that the anti-abortion movement crosses political parties and racial groups,
Trenee McGee, a Black Democratic state representative from Connecticut, addressed the crowd.
“I stand in place of the pro-life Black women across the globe who are suffering in silence,” she said. The crowd roared.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy offered support in a statement pledging that the new Republican majority will stand with abortionrights opponents.
“While others raise their voices in rage and hatred, you march with prayers, goodwill, fellowship, compassion, and devotion in defense of the most defenseless in this country,” McCarthy said.
Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, said the march is “a somber reminder of the millions of lives lost to abortion in the past 50 years, but also a celebration of how far we have come and where we as a movement need to focus our effort as we enter this new era in our quest to protect life.”
Some movement leaders also hope to plant seeds in Congress for a potential federal abortion restriction down the line. Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said she envisions an eventual “federal minimum standard” cutoff line such as 13 weeks of pregnancy after which abortion would not be permitted in any state. Dannenfelser’s scenario would still leave individual states free to impose their own, stricter measures, including a total ban.
That last ambition is an admitted longshot because even if it passes the Republican-controlled House, it would likely fail in the Democratic-held Senate.
Since June, near-total bans on abortion have been implemented in Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia. Legal challenges are pending against several of those bans.
According to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll conducted in July, 53% of U.S. adults said they disapproved of the Supreme Court’s repeal of Roe, while 30% approved. The same poll found that majorities think abortion should usually be illegal after the first trimester of pregnancy.