In the spirit of "we are
going to win this battle," 200,000 supporters joined the 25th March for
Life in Washington D.C., deploring the deaths of 35 million unborn babies
since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion on January 22, 1973. The
number of children killed due to abortion is greater than the total number
of Americans killed in armed conflict.
"His Truth Keeps Marching
On" was the theme of the event, and it came alive in the witness of marching
children, young adults, senior citizens, the handicapped, senators, congressmen,
cardinals and bishops of the Roman Catholic Church. Other faith denominations,
including Orthodox Christians and Jews, also supported the March for Life.
The event has been held each
year in protest of the Supreme Court's 1973 decision. It has been organized
each year by Nellie Gray, president of the March for Life Education and
Defence Fund. "We're not going away until we stop the abortions," Gray
told the gathering.
The speeches sounded a generally
optimistic note -- that Congress is more sympathetic to life than ever
before, that men are pursuading other men there is a better way than abortion,
that the battle will be won by changing people's hearts and minds.
Pro-life congressman Chris
Smith of New Jersey reflected the mood of many when he urged President
Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore to "get off the death ship, because
like the Titanic, abortion is going down."
Participants were exhorted
to think of the rally as a day of commitment and to keep the unborn in
mind as they reach out to change one heart and mind in support of life.
Cardinal Bernard Law, Archbishop
of Boston, and chairman of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops,
led the Catholic clergy who joined the march. "No judicial decision can
deprive anyone, especially the weakest among us, of this right (to life),"
Law said.
This year's March for Life
attracted supporters from far and wide. There were 125 busloads from New
Jersey, 33 from Missouri, and large representations from across the U.S.
and Canada.
The March was especially
poignant in that it featured two plaintiffs, Norma McCorvey and Sandra
Cano, from the infamous Roe vs. Wade and Doe vs. Bolton court decisions.
Both women have made dramatic conversions to the pro-life cause, and now
say they were ruthlessly exploited in 1973 by agents seeking to promote
the pro-abortion agenda.
McCorvey, who now operates
a special pro-life ministry in the United States, said she was pressured
into pursuing the case to the Supreme Court. She said her own abortion
was a mistake and that she lied 25 years ago in arguing for abortion on
demand. "I would like to take this opportunity to apologize to each and
every one of you here today," she said. "I lied and I'm sorry. I've repented
and asked Jesus to come into my heart."
McCorvey later described
the Roe vs. Wade ruling as a decision "conceived in deceit."
For her part, Sandra Cano
said she never supported abortion despite the fact her name has become
synonymous with abortion-on-demand court rulings.
"I was poor, pregnant, uneducated,
seeking assistance and getting a divorce from a man who was a convicted
child molester," Cano told the gathering. "My only source of help was Atlanta
Legal Aid. Instead of the help I sought, a feminist attorney turned my
circumstances into a tool to achieve her agenda -- legalizing abortion."
