Some 60,000 pro-life people lined the streets of San Francisco on Saturday for the West Coast Walk for Life — a way for pro-life Americans in the western United States to show their opposition to abortion.
Starting in 2005, with 7,500 participants the Walk has grown in both attendance and diversity each year, until it is now the second largest pro-life event in the United States. Last year’s attendance was estimated as high as 50,000 people and more people showed up yesterday.
People from colleges, high schools and church congregations and from as far away as Washington and Wyoming walked down San Francisco’s main artery, Market Street, ending at Justin Herman Plaza. Seventeen Catholic bishops, led by San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone, and two Anglican bishops in attendance.
The Walk has grown despite ongoing opposition from San Francisco’s city government. That opposition began with the first Walk in 2005 and continues to this day. On January 18, 2014, Supervisor David Campos, joined by six of his colleagues, introduced a resolution opposing the banners inviting San Franciscan’s to the Walk. The banners proclaimed the Walk’s message: “Abortion Hurts Women.”
The Walk for Life West Coast was started by a group of San Franciscans in 2005 to affirm the right to life from conception to natural death and particularly to change hearts hurt by the violence of abortion. While most of the organizers and a large proportion of the participants are people of faith, the Walk is a non-sectarian and non-denominational event that openly expresses belief in God but welcomes all who share a respect for life.
Below are some pictures, most of which were taken by West Coast Walk for Life or Students for Life of America:
