The John Birch Society :: Truth Freedom Leadership

ARTICLE SYNOPSIS:

Hundreds of thousands protest abortion and Roe v. Wade but the establishment media barely mentions it. Ron Paul picks up an important endorsement at the rally, and President Bush says he stands with the marchers.

Follow this link to the original source: "Abortion Opponents Unite on the Mall"

COMMENTARY:

A sea of pro-life activists marched through the frigid streets of Washington D.C. Tuesday during the annual March for Life. The rally marked the 35th anniversary of the controversial 1973 Supreme Court decision that gave the U.S. some of the least restrictive abortion laws of any country in the world; Roe vs. Wade.

The few stories about the rally have reported that hundreds of thousands of activists participated, with lower estimates in the tens of thousands. No official numbers were available but organizers estimated the crowd at 100,000.

Close to 20,000 people, many of them in their teens, nearly packed an arena for a rally and a Catholic Mass before the actual march began, The Washington Post reported online.

"The desire to have a pro-life generation in America is not fading out," Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick told the gathered crowd.

After the rally, attendees joined the larger march that ended at the Supreme Court building. "Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Roe v Wade has got to go," the marchers chanted from time to time.

The President of the March for Life, Nellie Gray, lamented 35 years of what she called the genocide of the pre-born.

"We have a genocide because, after 35 years, it’s estimated that 48 million pre-born children have been killed," she said. "So we’re coming together at the nation’s capital once more to petition Congress to enact legislation to stop the genocide here."

Pro-lifers who weren’t able to make the trip to D.C. gathered at Federal courts around the country to pray, where some were met by counter-protesters.

"They chanted and screamed at the top of their voices while we walked around the block and prayed," said Jackie Sikes, a pro-life activist who was outside a Federal courthouse in Florida. "They clogged the sidewalk so we had to squeeze by, and made it as difficult as they could for us."

The Washington Post said, "several small clusters of counter-demonstrators" were in D.C., but that there weren’t many confrontations. No arrests were reported.

Though very little coverage was given to the march or the nationwide gatherings in the mainstream media, news about the event online was abundant. Another news-worthy event happened during the rally, but it too received almost no media coverage.

Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul received an endorsement from a prominent leader in the movement to overturn Roe vs. Wade: Jane Roe.

Norma McCorvey, formerly known as 'Jane Roe' from the infamous court case, ended up giving birth to the child and becoming a pro-life activist. She said she was used as a pawn by her lawyers 35 years ago and she now runs a pro-life non-profit organization called Crossing over Ministry.

"I support Ron Paul for president because we share the same goal, that of overturning Roe v Wade," she said. "His voting record truly is impeccable and he undoubtedly understands our constitutional republic and the inalienable right to life for all."

She also discussed legislation sponsored by Ron Paul, a former doctor who delivered over 4,000 babies and has served 10 terms in Congress. One of the bills would overturn Roe vs. Wade and restore the States’ right to regulate abortions. The other would recognize life as beginning at conception.

"As the signor of the affidavit that legalized abortion 35 years ago I appreciate Ron Paul’s action to restore protection for the unborn," she said.

There were numerous reports of Ron Paul signs and supporters at the march as well.

"As someone who marched in the event with my family, I was struck by the large number of Ron Paul for President banners and signs," wrote Cliff Kincaid, the editor of Accuracy in Media. "They were a very visible presence at the march."

He added that he didn’t see signs for any other candidate except Fred Thompson, who dropped out of the race the same day.

Other Congressmen and prominent people spoke as well, including Rep. Steve King, a Republican from Iowa.

"The end to abortion on demand has started," he said told the crowd.

Before the march President Bush told a group of about 200 activists at the White House that he was proud to stand with them.

“I see people with a deep conviction that even the most vulnerable member of the human family is a child of God,” he said.

Despite helping stop U.S. tax-payer money from being spent on abortions in other countries and a veto on federal funds for research on stem cells, which are unconstitutional anyway, critics say Bush’s pro-life record is not consistent. Many point to his approval of the over-the-counter "abortion pills" in 2006 to make their case.

Planned Parenthood, America’s largest abortion provider, still receives millions of tax dollars. In addition to the 200,000 abortions per year, the money is used to teach children about "safe-sex" (estimates say about 60% of women getting abortions were using birth control) and to give them “free" condoms.

Many opponents of these practices point to the fact that the government is not authorized by the Constitution to fund such projects. Others make their case with quotes from the racist founder of the organization, a eugenics supporter named Margaret Sanger, who wrote that "Colored people are like human weeds and are to be exterminated," and that "The most merciful thing a large family can do for one of its infant members is to kill it." Many oppose paying for these programs simply because they’re pro-life.

So why do they still get our tax dollars? They use your taxes to influence the government. Planned Parenthood recently fought to overturn a law against partial-birth abortion, a procedure that is too graphic to describe. The case went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Incidently,  in optimistically discussing pro-life efforts in Washington D.C. mentioned the ban on “the cruel practice of partial-birth abortions” and other signs of progress.

Is Bush really pro-life or is he trying to shape the way history will judge him? That is up to the reader to decide. What is sure is that a very large, dedicated and vocal group of people has been trying for 35 years to protect life and to reverse a Supreme Court decision that many Constitutional scholars say is wrong; a decision that has allowed the legal termination of millions of pregnancies.

Whether the establishment media talks about the marches or not, it doesn’t seem like these passionate activists will be going away any time soon.