“MARCH FOR LIFE IN WASHINGTON DC – January 25”
by Mary Frances Forester, Associate Director
Concerned Women for America State Directors and other state leaders from across the nation gathered in Washington, D.C., January 25, to participate in the March for Life, marking the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in 1973. Concerned Women for America of North Carolina (CWANC) was represented by State Director, Sheri Miller, and Associate State Director, Mary Frances Forrester.
Approximately 500,000 citizens, from stroller babies to great grandmothers, marched in below-freezing temperatures and snow to support the sanctity of life. It was a great melting pot of people from different races, genders and political and religious persuasions. This impressive number of people was well behaved and gave respectful consideration to all, even when Sheri and I had to change directions and go against the flow to head to the Russell Senate Office Building for an appointment. Scattered among the marchers were entire school student bodies wearing their school colors, bearing American flags, and carrying signs promoting the protection of life as a God-given and constitutionally-guaranteed right which Roe v. Wade does not recognize.
The walk began at the Washington Monument and the route to the Supreme Court building. The hundreds of thousands of marchers received minimum media acknowledgement or press coverage. Congress dismissed on Wednesday before the scheduled walk on Friday. Their offices were open and manned by aides and legislative assistants. Deliberately contrived or not, their absence resonated through the crowd.
But the message of the people was perfectly clear. Familiar with the Declaration of Independence which states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness,” the marchers knew why they were there. Conversations were upbeat and positive. It is hard to believe that those words from the Declaration of Independence can somehow be misconstrued to mean that life in the womb is a “choice” of the mother to terminate (often at taxpayers’ expense). It is an issue that continues to create a divide in this nation and has yet to be resolved. However, with a more informed public, the pro-life movement is gaining increased support and momentum. I believe that the American people will soon demand restoration of the sanctity of life as prescribed and guaranteed in our sacred documents.