c. 1998 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ In 24 years, the March for Life, the annual anti-abortion demonstration some say is one of the longest continuous protest in U.S. history, has had its memorable moments, including a couple of near-mortal blows _ one inflicted by weather, the other by war.

But for Nellie Gray, the group’s 73-year-old president, it was the very first march _ Jan. 22, 1974 _ that remains indelibly etched in her memory.”All of this work … from October to January, trying to put this thing together. And come 12 o’clock on the steps of the Capitol and there was nobody out there. Nobody. And all of a sudden the buses just started rolling up and the people came out,”Gray recalled in an interview.

Officials estimate 20,000 protesters turned out on that unusually warm and sunny January day, said Gray.

In 1987, police revoked the marchers permit after nearly two feet of snow blanketed the city in the early morning hours. Despite the weather, Gray said, 10,000 marched anyway.

The 1991 March for Life came just six days after the initiation of Desert Storm in the Persian Gulf. Security concerns caused authorities to change at the last minute the rally site. Rumors circulated the march had been cancelled. Still, Gray _ and some 25,000 others _ marched, according to official estimates.

But the most successful march _ and the largest by far, according to Gray _ was in 1993, the first year President Clinton took office and the 20th anniversary of Roe vs. Wade.

Nearly 200,000 marched, Gray said, because people wanted to send a”strong message”to Clinton, who supports abortion rights. But that same day, Clinton signed executive orders repealing some significant legislative grounds made by anti-abortionists during the more sympathetic Reagan-Bush years.

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