“We ended slavery, we ended segregation, and now we’ll end abortion.”
More than a few people on social media have suggested that the secular media ignored the annual March for Life in Washington.
A quick Google search tells a different story. Search “March for Life” under the Google news tab and you’ll find about 508 million results — many of them (at least in the first few pages) duplicates of other stories, and some of them press releases and items from the Catholic media. A surprising number, however, are reports from local TV and radio news affiliates and small town newspapers, covering how different groups from their hometown are attending the March.
There was also significant coverage from the national and international media — drawn to the event, no doubt, because of the SCOTUS decision on abortion that is expected in the near future.
Here’s a sampling of reports.
From The New York Times:
Anti-abortion protesters descended on Washington from across the country on Friday for the annual March for Life, a ritual that this year took on a tone of hopeful celebration as they anticipated the Supreme Court overturning the decision that established a constitutional right to abortion half a century ago.
… The crowd, bundled in thick coats and scarves in the freezing temperatures, began gathering a few hours before the rally began at noon.
“We are hoping and praying that this year, 2022, will bring a historic change for life,” Jeanne Mancini, the president of the March for Life Defense and Education Fund, which has organized the march since 1974, told the crowd.
The Times also produced a short video of “Voices from the March,” viewable here.
From ABC News:
The annual anti-abortion rally in the nation’s capital sounded more like a victory celebration as speakers expressed a growing sense of optimism that their long-sought goal, a sweeping rollback of abortion rights in America, was finally in reach.
Thousands of protesters rallied in the bitter cold Friday and marched to the Supreme Court, which has indicated it will allow states to impose tighter restrictions on abortion with a ruling in the coming months — and possibly overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that affirmed the constitutional right to an abortion.
From CNN:
Attendees of Friday’s March for Life, an annual anti-abortion march in Washington that marks the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling, were optimistic that this year’s march would be the last with Roe on the books. They were marching toward a Supreme Court that has before it a case where the conservative majority is expected to scale back — and perhaps fully reverse — the 1973 precedent that protects abortion rights nationwide.
‘I’ve been coming since 1974. There is a difference in expectation and hope,” Republican Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey told CNN, after a speech describing the moment as a “tipping point.”
From The Washington Post:
Elated cheers interrupted speeches, young people declared themselves inspired and longtime antiabortion activists said their work was finally paying off as thousands who gathered for the March for Life 2022 Friday exuded a new kind of hope.
Protesters on the National Mall huddled close to one another as temperatures hovered around 20 degrees. But the annual event, in its 49th year, was upbeat, a reflection of what some attendees said was confidence that the Supreme Court this year may overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide — and prompted the creation of the march.
“One day at the Smithsonian there will be a display of the pro-life movement ending abortion,” Melanie Frei, 66, of Tomah, Wis., said as she stood on the Mall between various museums. “We ended slavery, we ended segregation, and now we’ll end abortion.”
From The Guardian:
In 1974, on the first anniversary of the Roe v Wade supreme court decision, abortion opponents gathered on the National Mall in Washington to “march for life”. They vowed to return each year until the ruling, which established the right to abortion, was no longer the law of the land.
On Friday, anti-abortion activists from across the country braved sub-zero temperatures and the coronavirus pandemic to assemble in Washington, more hopeful than ever that this would be their last march to a court where the fate of Roe will soon be decided.
“We are hoping and praying that this year, 2022, will bring a historic change for life,” Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, told a crowd tens of thousands strong and waving signs that read “I am the post-Roe generation” and “The future is anti-abortion.”
Also worth noting: the local Washington, DC CBS affiliate, WUSA, livestreamed the event on YouTube for more than two hours on Friday. You can watch it below.
