Trump, crowds to rally in D.C. at 47th annual March for Life
As states and reproductive rights groups battle in courtrooms over the harshest crackdowns on abortion access in decades, tens of thousands of people are set to take to the street Friday calling for an end to the practice.
Energized by sweeping legislative victories – and buoyed by an appearance by President Donald Trump – organizers say an estimated 100,000 people are expected to converge on Washington, D.C., for the 47th annual March for Life.
Trump, the first president in history to attend the event, announced his plans in a tweet Wednesday: “See you on Friday... Big Crowd!”
Last year alone, 58 anti-abortion laws were passed, including 25 that banned the procedure to some extent, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research organization that supports reproductive rights.
Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, called the mounting list of bans and restrictions “commonsense laws.”
“Our loftiest goal is to work for the day when abortion in unthinkable,” Mancini said. “This (past) year we saw a lot of laws that were surprises, and some had a major impact on public opinion.”
Reproductive rights advocates, however, say momentum is on their side. They spent much of last year protesting in front of state capitols and joined forces to combat severe restrictions with lawsuits.
Alexis McGill Johnson, acting president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, pointed to November election victories that saw voters support candidates who affirmed the right to abortion, particularly in Kentucky and Virginia.
“We’ve seen how supporting reproductive rights is not only good for people, it’s good politics,” Johnson said.
Some of the strictest anti-abortion laws last year were passed in Alabama – which enacted a total ban on abortion – and Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi and Ohio, which outlawed the procedure after about six weeks when a fetal heartbeat is detected.
Federal judges temporarily blocked the laws from going into effect while the legal challenges by abortion-rights groups are fought this year in lower courts.
“No one is expecting the district court to be the final word,” said Elizabeth Nash, senior state issues manager at Guttmacher.
Republican lawmakers and antiabortion activists are hoping the cases ultimately rise to the Supreme Court, with its new conservative majority and the power to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court is likely to rule this spring on a Louisiana law that requires abortion providers to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. A similar law in Texas was struck down by the high court in 2016.
There is much to celebrate at this year’s march, organizer Mancini said. While 800,000 women had abortions in 2017, the number performed in the U.S. reached a historic low. New pregnancy care centers are opening, and more young people are supporting the cause. Many of marchers are traveling from schools and colleges across the country, she said.
“This is a human rights issues, so we can’t not march,” Mancini said. “We are changing hearts and minds.”