PRO- LIFE FORCES AIM TO OVERTURN ROE
Energized by a White House administration they see as themost sympathetic in decades, and expecting the new president to pick a Supreme Court nominee who shares their views, thousands of demonstrators rallied and marched against abortion in Washington on Friday.
“Life is winning in America,” Vice President Pence told a cheering crowd who gathered near the Washington Monument.
Pence quoted the Declaration of Independence’s guarantee of inalienable rights to “life, liberty and pursuit of happiness” and said the U. S. Supreme Court in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion “turned away from the first of these timeless ideals.”
He promised that President Trump would not only end federal funding for abortions and abortion providers, he would name a Supreme Court justice who would “uphold the God- given liberties enshrined in the Constitution.”
Pence, the highest- ranking official ever to address the annual event that began 44 years ago, said Trump asked him to appear.
“To all of you marching you have my full support!” Trump tweeted Friday morning.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway also addressed the crowd, saying that anti- abortion forces had been ignored for too long.
“We hear you, we see you, we respect you, and we look forward to working with you,” Conway said.
Attendees have highhopes.
“Just like they abolished slavery they should abolish abortion,” said Annette Lancaster, 39, of Burlington, N. C., who said she had once managed a Planned Parenthood center. “It’s the most disgusting, horrible thing you could ever see.”
Planned Parenthood promised to fight back.
“We will not stand by as Vice President Pence tries to impose his radical, dangerous and highly unpopular agenda on this country,” said Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. “Defunding Planned Parenthood will cause a national health care crisis, leaving millions with nowhere to turn for basic reproductive health care, including birth control and cancer screenings.”
The March for Life crowd included a heavy concentration of students, many from out of state.
“We support pro- life and we think that abortion needs to be abolished,” said Zach Saffell, a 17- year- old who came with dozens of fellow high school students from Fisher Catholic in Lancaster, Ohio.
Some of the students carried signs calling for defunding Planned Parenthood.
When asked why he thought that was important, Saffell responded, “If it’s not funded then it will make it harder for Planned Parenthood to fund abortions.”
Some demonstrators criticized the media for drawing comparisons between the March for Life and last week’s “Women’s March” protests in cities around the country. That theme was also picked up by March for Life President Jeanne Mancini, who told the crowd she had been asked by reporters if she ex-
pected as many people.
“The only number I care about, and the number all of us care about, is 58 million,” Mancini said. “Since 1973, 58 million Americans have been lost to abortion. We stand for the little, innocent children who have lost their lives, and we stand for their mothers who regret being involved in abortion. I’d like to address the women in the audience and watching on TV: Pro- life is pro- woman.”
Trump on Monday signed a presidential memorandum that reinstated and expanded a policy that prohibits U. S. aid from supporting international groups that promote abortion. In addition to applying the ban to funds connected to family planning services, Trump also applied the order to all “global health assistance” provided by federal agencies. He also included new language barring federal funds from supporting organizations that participate in “coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization.”
Trump also is expected to nominate a Supreme Court justice next week to succeed the late Antonin Scalia, who had been part of the conservative bloc on the court.
Trump said in a 60 Minutes interview in November, “I’m pro- life. The judges will be pro- life.”
Some in the anti- abortion movement are skeptical, however, and staged a prerally protest on Friday morning where about two dozen people laid down in the fetal position on Pennsylvania Avenue
“We stand for the little, innocent children who have lost their lives, and we stand for their mothers who regret being involved in abortion.” March for Life President Jeanne Mancini
near the White House to represent a “die- in.” They said they wanted to remind Trump he has to live up to his promises.
“We’re here today because we believe that what our founders said is true, that all humans are created equal in God’s image,” said Seth Drayer of an Ohio group called Created Equal. “Every successful abortion ends in the death of a distinct living full human being.”
Congress has already begun moving anti- abortion legislation.
Tuesday, the House approved a bill sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith, R- N. J., that would prohibit using subsidies or tax credits provided through the Affordable Care Act to buy health insurance that covers abortion. The bill also would make permanent the Hyde Amendment, which bars direct federal funding for abortion through programs such as Medicaid and federal employees’ and veterans’ health coverage.
Smith, first elected in 1980 and longtime leader of the House Pro- Life Caucus, said the effort in Congress has its most effective, articulate and compassionate backers ever.
“This is the turning point for the right- to- life movement,” he said.
He said the House would next take up legislation sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks, R- Ariz., to ban abortion after the fetus is able to feel pain, which advocates say happens 20 weeks after fertilization.