March for Life

January 25, 2013 by 15 Comments

The March for Life takes place Friday, a massive demonstration in Washington, D.C., against abortion, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision.  This is the 40th anniversary of that infamous ruling and the 40th march.  Hundreds of thousands of people will march through the streets of our nation’s capital.

I know quite a few people who will be there, including folks from our church.  If you join the march, please tell us about it this weekend in the comments.

From 40th annual March for Life expected to attract record crowd – WTOP.com:

The streets are clear of inaugural participants, but hundreds of thousands of visitors are heading back to the National Mall Friday for an entirely different event.

Anti-abortion activists from across the nation will take to D.C.’s streets for the 40th annual March for Life, a march that commemorates the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Organizers say they hope the crowd will surpass the march’s record of 400,000 demonstrators, and even the attendance of 1 million people at the inauguration.

“It would be fantastic if the numbers topped those of the inauguration,” says Jeanne Monahan, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund. “However, it would be an act of God — it would be a miracle if that happened.”

The National Park Service used to estimate an official count of march participants, but stopped giving estimates after Million Man March organizers threatened to sue in 1995 for what they claimed was an underestimate.

“(How many marchers will be there) is the million-dollar question, and we don’t have a formal or really an informal estimate,” Monahan says, adding that an unaffiliated group plans to oversee a formal estimate this year.

Monahan says she expects large crowds because hotel rooms that organizers reserved downtown sold out a month in advance — something that has never happened before.

The march is also expected to draw crowds because the march’s founder, Nellie Gray, died in August at age 88, and supporters may attend in her honor.

“We are anticipating a somewhat larger crowd not only because it’s the 40th anniversary, but because Nellie Gray died last year,” says National Park Service spokeswoman Carol Johnson.

 

Filed Under: Life Issues Tagged With: 15 Comments

About Gene Veith

Professor of Literature at Patrick Henry College, the Director of the Cranach Institute at Concordia Theological Seminary, a columnist for World Magazine and TableTalk, and the author of 18 books on different facets of Christianity & Culture.

  • fjsteve

    I hate to be pick nits–okay, I don’t, really, but I recognize that this will come across as nit-picky–but using the term “anniversary” to describe such an event just doesn’t sit well with me. The article used the term “commemorate”; “memorial” would also have been good. But an anniversary is usually a celebratory event, is it not? I mean, I would expect Pro-Choicers to use the term. Even that repugnant video yesterday used it. But I don’t think it’s particularly apropos.

    Also, I have to say I’m liking the, apparently, new practice of posting at night. Providing I ever have a good point to make, it will be nice to post it before twenty others make the same point. :)

  • Paul Reed

    I will be attending and I will let you all know! They have a rally and then there is the march. Is there a way to post the sign I made on here? Wait until the pro-aborts see this one! I used the similar one in October at Komen’s “Race for the Cure” at the finish line, and you should have seen their faces.

  • Tom Hering

    Paul (@ 2), you could upload the photo to Google Drive (see the menu bar on Google’s search page), and then post the link in a comment here.

  • DonS

    And it will receive negligible media coverage.

  • tODD

    DonS said (@4):

    it will receive negligible media coverage.

    Especially if you don’t try to look!

    npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/01/25/170236110/march-for-life-rally-expected-to-draw-huge-crowd-in-washington

    usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/01/25/abortion-march-for-life-washington/1864051/

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/under-god/post/march-for-life-seen-through-social-media-photos/2013/01/25/5bec9baa-6708-11e2-9e1b-07db1d2ccd5b_blog.html

    freep.com/usatoday/article/1864051?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs

    live.usnews.com/Event/Live_March_for_Life_Coverage_12413_US_News_Walks_With_Rick_Santorum

    pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2013/01/local_churches_march_for_life.html

    stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/political-fix/st-louisans-join-annual-march-for-life-in-dc/article_c6f88db7-949b-56c0-b7d8-173ef8e73c6f.html

    chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-abortionbre90o0p2-20130125,0,949646.story

    pressherald.com/opinion/roe-remains-the-law-but-pro-life-forces-cant-be-ignored_2013-01-25.html

    dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/01/24/roe-anniversary-greeted-with-sadness.html

    nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2013/01/large_contingent_of_anti-abort.html

    I could probably find more (that was just from a cursory glance at Google News) but keep in mind, the day isn’t even over, so no one’s written their final write up.

  • R. Hall

    tODD @5, I know I tried to look in previous years and was surprised how little I found–and at the time I wasn’t suspicious of media neglect. I think what you turned up is evidence that this will be a bigger year somehow.

  • Gene Veith

    fjsteve @1, where do you get the idea that “anniversary” has to be celebratory? Here is the definition:

    1. The annually recurring date of a past event, especially one of historical, national, or personal importance: a wedding anniversary; the anniversary of the founding of Rome.

    We are currently observing the 150th anniversary of the Civil War: http://www.civilwar.org/150th-anniversary/
    Also the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War: http://www.vietnamwar50th.com/
    No one is “celebrating” those tragedies.

  • tODD

    And the “negligible media coverage” keeps rolling in (right-wingers who criticize the media: in no way allow these data points to alter your arguments about bias)!

    washingtonpost.com/local/march-for-life-in-front-of-supreme-court-decries-landmark-1973-ruling/2013/01/25/d25912da-6723-11e2-85f5-a8a9228e55e7_story.html

    washingtonpost.com/local/march-for-life-arrives-in-washington/2013/01/25/1b7bcfc4-672a-11e2-9e1b-07db1d2ccd5b_gallery.html#photo=1

    (Those were two of the several WaPo stories on the topic from today)

    nytimes.com/2013/01/26/us/politics/40-years-after-roe-v-wade-thousands-march-to-oppose-abortion.html

    latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-protest-marks-40th-anniversary-of-roe-v-wade-20130125,0,4313995.story

    chicagotribune.com/sns-rt-usa-abortionl1n0au4ry-20130125,0,851928.story

    politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2013/01/25/santorum-rand-paul-lead-abortion-opposition-march-for-life/

    foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/25/abortion-opponents-march-in-washington/

    seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2020208927_apusabortionanniversary.html

    photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/25/16701355-anti-abortion-activists-march-on-washington-40-years-after-roe-v-wade?lite

    huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/25/march-for-life-2013_n_2552570.html

    upi.com/Top_News/US/2013/01/25/Abortion-rights-protesters-pack-Washington/UPI-63691359147122/

    voanews.com/content/anti-abortion-protesters-crowd-washington-for-annual-march-/1590870.html

    buffalonews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20130125/CITYANDREGION/130129399/1002

    dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/01/25/local-groups-march-for-life-in-washington.html

    globalpost.com/photo-galleries/5739593/march-life-rally-protests-abortion-washington-dc-photos

  • Rich Shipe

    I led a group down. It was great! Tons of people. We were never in a position where we got a good perspective of everyone so it was hard to tell how it compared to past years. It “felt” similar to last year or maybe a little more.

    We skipped the rally. Often in the past the rally was very tedious. Basically 90 minutes of speaker after speaker saying the same thing and most people not really listening. Did anyone go to the rally? How was it?

  • LAJ

    President Matthew Harrison was there and spoke to a reporter.

  • Abby

    @10 Video of Matt Harrison: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaD109O4x_c

  • Abby
  • Abby
  • Booklover

    We were provided with quantity @ #8. Hopefully there is some quality. There sure wasn’t on the Huffington Post link; it was pure pap.

  • tODD

    Booklover (@14), I wasn’t responding to a prediction that there would be only “low-quality” media coverage. I was responding to the prediction that the march would “receive negligible media coverage”. Yeah, that kinda didn’t happen.

    But I’m curious. Why, out of the 26 URLs I provided, do you seem to have only read the Huffington Post one?


CLOSE | X

HIDE | X