WASHINGTON, D.C., JAN. 22, 2002 (Zenit.org).- Thousands of pro-lifers rallied to mark the 29th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling allowing abortion, urged on by President George W. Bush who told them even unwanted children should be “welcomed into life and protected in law.´´
Speaking by telephone from West Virginia, Bush told the rally at the Washington Monument today, “You´re working and marching on behalf of a noble cause and affirming a culture of life,´´ according to Reuters.
The rally and a later march from the monument across town to the Supreme Court commemorated the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that claimed a constitutional right to kill unborn children.
Bush was seen as a patron by the abortion opponents, with one mammoth sign reading, “Michigan Loves Our Pro-Life President.´ Other banners represented other areas, including “Tennessee Right to Life,´´ “West Virginia Teens for Life´´ and even ´´Cheeseheads for Life´´ — from Wisconsin, a key dairy state.
Several signs featured graphic images of dismembered unborn children, and one placard linked Planned Parenthood, which performs abortion, with the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on Washington and New York.
“Empire of Japan, 2,403 killed at Pearl Harbor; al Qaeda-Taliban, 2,937 killed Sept. 11; Planned Parenthood, 1st trimester aborted human embryos, 3,600 killed every day,´´ the placard read.
Bush´s words were greeted with thunderous applause, and came two days after National Sanctity of Human Life Day, which Bush proclaimed.
“President Jefferson´s timeless principle obligates us to pursue a civil society that will democratically embrace its essential moral duties, including defending the elderly, strengthening the weak, protecting the defenseless, feeding the hungry, and caring for children — born and unborn,´´ Bush said in his proclamation.
A few blocks away, a coalition of abortion supporters decried the Bush administration´s record, starting with the appointment of John Ashcroft, a longtime opponent of abortion, as attorney general. They also noted Bush´s reimposition of the rule that forbids international family planning organizations from mentioning abortion if they accept U.S. funds.
The Family Research Council said it “joins pro-life Americans across the country in mourning the death of 42 million innocent lives ended by abortion.” Council president Ken Connor said: “With more than 1.3 million lives ended by abortion each year, it´s fair to say the abortion industry carries out surgical strikes daily against defenseless human targets.”
