John Powell, Asst. Sports Editor
Masses of people lined the streets at The Mall in Washington, DC, shouting, chanting, singing and praying last Friday to participate in the annual March for Life.
On the anniversary of the landmark Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling, which ruled that most laws against abortion violated a constitutional right to privacy, thousands of people found their way to the District of Columbia to support the pro-life movement.
The March for Life, which has been held annually since 1974, gives people who support pro-life laws a means to come from all over America to express their feelings and sentiments towards the laws and lawmakers that currently support abortion.
According to Examiner.com, more than 300,000 people descended on the Capitol, with some informal estimates ranging from 250,000 to 400,000 people.
The event began at noon, as participants gathered for a rally on the Washington Mall until 2 p.m., after which the group marched along Constitution Avenue, to the side of the Capitol building, then along 1st Street NE to the Supreme Court building, where they finally gathered again.
Many diverse groups participated – the old and the young, men and women, people from the district itself to people from thousands of miles away. Both the religious and the non-religious came together to bring attention to their cause. All those involved were optimistic of change.
“Absolutely [abortion] will come to be outlawed in the United States eventually,” said Trisha Lester, a participant in the rally. “I think that the country will come to see that it really is a life.”
“People are so focused on this ‘so-called’ choice that they blind themselves to what is really going on,” said Kayla Gerry, another participant in the rally.
Throughout the rally, participants reminded the crowd that there have been more than 50 million abortions since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973.
“It’s a big business,” said rally participant Jared Smythe.
According to Examiner.com, no opposition towards the March for Life was in sight at the rally, as there have been before. In the past, there have been pro-choice rallies or group functions on the same day as the March for Life, however there were none on Friday.
Leave a Reply