New Congress Changes Tone of Anti-Abortion Rally

c. 2007 Religion News Service WASHINGTON _ The thousands of anti-abortion advocates who gathered here on Monday (Jan. 22) for the 34th annual March for Life came with a message for the new Democratic Congress: No matter what happened last November, America, they say, still opposes abortion. “I’m always concerned when the Democrats are in […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ The thousands of anti-abortion advocates who gathered here on Monday (Jan. 22) for the 34th annual March for Life came with a message for the new Democratic Congress: No matter what happened last November, America, they say, still opposes abortion.

“I’m always concerned when the Democrats are in control,” said Mary Dixon, 66, who traveled to Washington with 53 other members of the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Burlington, N.C., for the annual rally that marks the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.


The marchers already are looking ahead to the 2008 presidential election. Dixon said she would likely vote Republican because GOP candidates tend to oppose abortion.

Supporters of Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who announced his presidential candidacy over the weekend, were out in full force, handing out stickers and signs outside a subway station near the National Mall. Blue-and-white “Brownback for President” posters were scattered throughout the crowd.

“Senator Brownback feels that he and the folks at the march are very much likeminded about pro-life issues,” said spokesman Brian Hart.

Hart added that Brownback, a Catholic, “stands ready to fight for pro-life issues” while the Democrats control Congress.

Kevin Clarke, 26, a graduate student in theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, said he and his wife Natasha, 25, “just love Senator Brownback,” saying Brownback’s values are in line with their Catholic faith.

Clarke said he found the results of the 2006 midterm elections “troubling” and hoped the rally would send a message that “America is still very pro-life.”

Brownback spoke at the march, and President Bush addressed the rally in a piped-in phone call blared over loudspeakers.


“The sanctity of life is written in the hearts of all men and women,” Bush told the crowd listening in the icy wind. “I say, go forth with confidence that a cause rooted in human dignity and appealing to the best instincts of our citizens cannot fail.”

A number of Republican congressmen spoke as well, including Reps. Mike Pence, R-Ind., Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and Steve Chabot, R-Ohio.

They all praised the GOP’s pursuit of an anti-abortion agenda. Bush cited promotion of adoption, support for parental notification laws for minors seeking abortions, an end to federal funding for abortions overseas and the funding of crisis pregnancy programs as hallmarks of his presidency. He also noted that he had signed into law a ban on partial-birth abortions, saying it would be vigorously defended before the Supreme Court, where it faces a challenge.

Chabot, a Roman Catholic, commended Bush’s selection of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito, and warned marchers to think carefully about their votes in the 2008 election.

“Think of the types of choices that would have been sanctified if we had a President John Kerry,” Chabot said. “Think of what would be (sanctioned) if we had a President Hillary Clinton or a President (Barack) Obama.”

KRE END BOYLE

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