As of: 01/20/2023 9:43 p.m
In Washington, abortion opponents hold the “March for Life” every year. This year they celebrated the lifting of the nationwide ban on abortion – but they still don’t see their goal.
At the annual “March for Life” in Washington, US anti-abortion opponents celebrated their victory in front of the Supreme Court. The verdict in the summer put abortion rights “back in the hands of the people,” it said at the rally.
Despite the tens of thousands who attended the rally, polls show that a clear majority of US citizens think the overturning of the verdict is wrong. US President Joe Biden had announced that he would do everything in his power to restore abortion rights nationwide.
Demonstrators want to put pressure on Congress
At the first “March for Life” since the overturning of the Roe v. Wade, the participants tried to find a new focus. They didn’t turn their attention to the Supreme Court, but to the building directly across from it: the US Capitol.
The movement’s leaders want to warn Congress against scaling back the numerous abortion bans that have been imposed in a dozen US states in recent months.
“We have put abortion policy back in the hands of the people — your hands,” said Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, whose office was handling the case that brought Roe v. Wade, addressed to the crowd, according to the pre-distributed manuscript.
In his sermon during the opening service on Thursday evening, Bishop Michael Burbidge had previously seen the end of the decades-old judge’s decision as a cause for celebration. This “eyesore” no longer exists in the US legal system, according to the Bishop of Arlington.
McCarthy pledges support to anti-abortion advocates
In a statement, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy offered his support to the protesters and assured the new Republican majority was pro-abortion.
The president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, Jeanne Mancini, said the event commemorated the millions of lives lost to abortion over the past 50 years. But we also want to celebrate how far we have come and what the movement needs to focus on in the future.
Proposed ban after 13 weeks of pregnancy
Some activists hoped Congress would lay the groundwork for a US-wide ban on abortion. SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser said she could envision a statewide rule that would ban abortion after 13 weeks of pregnancy in all US states.
Dannenfelser’s scenario would still allow individual states to take their own stricter measures, up to and including a total ban. “We know that it will not happen again in this legislative period, but this is a start,” said Dannenfelser. “It is the responsibility (of Congress) to listen to the will of the people.”
However, according to a July poll by the AP news agency and the NORC Centers for Public Affairs Research, 53 percent of US adults opposed the Supreme Court overturning the Roe verdict; only 30 percent were in favour.