As hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates make their way to the Supreme Court today, they are focused on two key battles: combating the pro-abortion agenda of President Barack Obama and stopping taxpayer funding of abortions.
If the signs carried by the March for Life participants are any indication, there’s no letup in the passion and zeal of the pro-life views of a majority of Americans. But they were also focused on the agenda of toppling the pro-abortion administration of Obama and stopping the taxpayer funding of abortion that Obamcare and Obama’s Democratic allies pushed in Congress over the last two years.
Before the event, Susan B. Anthony List president Marjorie Dannenfelser delivered a State of the Unborn video address in a play off of the upcoming State of the Union. She urged pro-life advocates to keep up the focus for bills that would end abortion funding.
“It’s not just a movement anymore. All the polls show this is pro-life America now,” Dannenfelser said. “It’s time for us to flex the muscle that we just flexed in this election and do everything we can in this Congress to protect human lives.”
The pro-life movement is energized with the election of the pro-life majority in the House and reducing the pro-abortion numbers in the Senate.The movement is also positioned in numerous states to enact legislation to protect women and their babies, reject the pro-abortion policies and health care mandates of the Obama administration, and to further promote a culture of life.
The March for Life featured hundreds of busses carrying participants from across the nation — including 6,000 from the Pittsburgh area.
“We believe in the cause for life, and we want to defend those who can’t speak for themselves,” Peggy Kuntz, a fourth grade teacher at St. Margaret Mary’s School explained before she boarded a bus at Holy Name of Jesus Parish.
Rev. Peggy Means of Pittsburgh talked with the Pittsburgh Gazette about why she likes to attend the event after having an abortion years ago.
“I never considered that there was a life being nurtured inside of me,” she said, calling the abortion “a clinical procedure that I needed to get on with my life.”
Now, as a pro-life person, she says: “It was a sin to end a life, and I had arrived at that decision out of pride and shame. I think I’m a walking picture of God’s grace and redemption, not only because of the abortion but for a lot of reasons. We are all miracles when we are on the other side of some things we have done.”
Several lawmakers put out statements supporting the pro-life marchers, including Sen. David Vitter of Louisiana.
“Each year, the March for Life solemnly reminds us of the Supreme Court’s infamous decision 38 years ago to legalize abortion nationwide,” said Vitter. “I’m grateful for the many pro-life Americans from across the country, and especially in Louisiana, who continue to gather to express their sorrow over this ongoing tragedy – and to renew our commitment to building a culture where all people, born and unborn, are guaranteed the right to life.”
Congressman Tim Huelskamp of Kansas also applauded the marchers.
“Today at the March for Life we mark another year of abortion being legal in the United States. It is a tragic anniversary because each year we also remember the innocent lives lost as a result of this decision. But, year after year, every January, hundreds of thousands of Americans show up in Washington and in their state capitals to denounce the decision not just because they oppose abortion, but because they support life,” he said. “Since 1973, more than 50 million Americans have died at the hands of America’s abortion industry. America loses about 1.2 million unborn children to abortion every single year. This statistic should make everyone shudder. Despite what proponents of it might say, abortion is not rare; nor is it right.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Michelle Bachmann is the keynote speaker at tonight’s Rose dinner following the March.
Before the March for Life, 17,000 youth packed the Verizon Center and so many have to be turned away every year sponsors added a second site at the 10,000-seat D.C. Armory.
Gary Bauer of American values commented before the March and called abortion “a national tragedy.”
“Today, hundreds of thousands of Americans will once again brave the cold to march in Washington, D.C. calling for an end to the tragedy of abortion on demand. Roe vs. Wade has been a national tragedy that has resulted in millions of exploited women and millions of destroyed, unborn children. America will never be what our Founders intended it to be until all of our children, whatever their race or economic background, are welcomed into the world and protected by the law,” he said.
