Toss in comments about the event itself and the massive media coverage – if you can manage to sift through it all, that is. I understand if you can’t.
Michael went up – he’s had a very busy two days and will be returning later tonight. I’ve not heard from him since this morning when he attempted to call me from the Verizon Center before the Mass for youth – that didn’t go very well, considering the din. I’m sure he’ll be blogging on the experience.
So, blog on your own experiences, what you’ve seen and heard. If you have any links of blogging/twittering marchers, please do.
Sounds like it was a huge turnout. Let’s pray it has an impact on those who participated and those who witnessed.
On the 36th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we are reminded that this decision not only protects women’s health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters. I remain committed to protecting a woman’s right to choose. While this is a sensitive and often divisive issue, no matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make. To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services. On this anniversary, we must also recommit ourselves more broadly to ensuring that our daughters have the same rights and opportunities as our sons: the chance to attain a world-class education; to have fulfilling careers in any industry; to be treated fairly and paid equally for their work; and to have no limits on their dreams. That is what I want for women everywhere.”
We just returned from a pro-life rosary, where our priest emphasized the spiritual dimension of our activity to promote and protect the sanctity of life. Perhaps, as Greg Willits posted, some positive signs may be in the air: http://www.lifenews.com/nat4771.html
I was reading around on the web today (should have been working more, but yah know…) and got on the ‘Democrats for Life’ page. (Mostly to see if they were at all active in my state.)
Do any of you know of the 95/10 strategy? To reduce abortions by 95% in 10 years through different legislative and social strategies, including an act to support pregnant women.
I guess that the feeling is that it is a way to save lives. It said on the site, “36 years of battling Roe v. Wade has not slowed the rate of abortion.” (Some of you might disagree on that particular statement, which isn’t the point.)
I am just curious if you are seeing or hearing any buzz about the 95/10 strategy from your own vantage points. (Assuming that reducing abortion is the point, rather than making a point about abortion.)
And while I am heartened that torture is no longer a tactic of our government and hope that this latest anti-lobbying bit will make things a tad more honest, there is that disappointed sigh at the official Presidential statement equating equal opportunity with the right to an abortion. I’ll be interested to hear what the Feminists for Life says about this.
My parish had a Holy Hour for life and our country last night. It was well-attended and very reverent. It was good to feel the strength and commitment to life of the people there.
Curmudgeon,
‘“36 years of battling Roe v. Wade has not slowed the rate of abortion.” (Some of you might disagree on that particular statement, which isn’t the point.)’
But it IS the point. The incremental legislative limitations on the unfettered abortions unleashed by Roe v. Wade have sure contributed to the steady, albeit slow, decline in abortions over the last couple of decades.
By equating equal rights and equal opportunity for sons and daughters to get an education with the “right to choose” and to have an abortion, and by enshrining the “right to choose” as a fundamental human right, the state implicitly encourages abortions by implicitly faulting the product of an unintended pregnancy.
I do enjoy the sophistry of the president’s statement that he supports the principle “that government should not intrude on our most private family matters.” Yet eliminating such limits on unfettered abortion, such as parental consent and/or notification laws undeniably intrudes on the privacy of the family. One could argue that such things as handing out free condoms in public schools–no doubt part of the pledge to “expand access to affordable contraception”–also de facto intrude on private family matters, by undercutting the parents’ wishes and even pitting the schools against the parents in such matters.
Obama may have avoided the March, but the witness of the March still came to him.
The World Youth Day theme last summer was from Acts 1:8, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, throughout Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
That is what happened to me and my friends today. We went to the Youth Mass in the Verizon Center this morning and because Jesus is really present in the Eucharist, we received the power to witness, and then we gave witness to the truth.
While my friends and I were driving home after the March, we stopped at a traffic light. A bunch of black cars were coming down the other street, and we recalled scenes from the inauguration, so right away, as if acting in concert to the same inspiration, we opened the sunroof, and through the sunroof I lifted up the “We Choose Life” sign which was given out by the Knights of Columbus. We saw Obama in one of the cars, and that he was looking at it!
He saw the Pro-Life witness of the March For Life!
This is the sort of mindset you are dealing with with [url=http://www.jillstanek.com/Slide%201%20michelle%20obama%20pba%20letter.jpg]Mr and Mrs Obama[/url] (Jill Stanek has the background to that distasteful and mendacious letter).
These two are beyond left, and beyond ideologues. So you are going to have to make it personal.
This is an [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2CaBR3z85c&e]excellent ad [/url]by Catholic Vote.
Expose the emperor with no clothes.
Yesterday I was looking for coverage from cnn.com, but I couldn’t find any. (I caught that story about Aretha Franklin’s dissatisfaction with her inauguration performance, though. Glad to see they’re on top of the important stuff. )
Today, though, they do call the embryonic stem cell research that the FDA approved “human stem cell research”. I hope everybody who reads it notices the phrase “human embryonic-based product.”
Kevin
I have a post about media coverage of the 2009 March for Life at:
http://thomasgwyndunbar.wordpress.com/2009/01/23/march-for-life-2009/
which I’ll be updating.
It seems that people still has not heard: Obama repealed the Mexico City policy yesterday. This administration will now fund overseas abortions.
The march was my 7th or so in a row. It’s like a family reunion. There are lots of the same speakers year after year and they mainly cover the same important ground. No Ram’s Horn blow from the Rabbi this year. That’s always a crowd favorite. I think he ran out of time. The route was cut way short. It started just before Capitol Hill whereas only a few years ago it started at the Elipse. It made it tough to determine the crowd this year. All in all, a good showing by our side.
Second time in attendance, but march is always so slow to start (bottleneck in getting rallying crowds into line) that we weren’t able to visit with our congressmen (45 min. wait to go through security): you either get to witness en masse, or individually. So choose in advance what you’re there for, I suppose? The sense I got is that Catholic high schools send a cohort or two and some hardy political-religious nutcases (its tough if you’re not that sort or would like to invite friendly non-Catholics on the bus with you, the conversation started with Obama’s birth-certificate-Kennedy assasination-ArlenSpectre coverup conspiracies and ended with “three days-of-darkness-medjugore-madness” so I vowed if I go again I go on the train or I pack me some earplugs!
We were in line at the Dept-ofAg cafeteria entrance (govt buildings are some of cheapest places to eat, need photo ID to enter) with a group from a Birmingham, Alabama high school who seemed in good spirits, so mustn’t leave the impression the day was wasted!
oops- missing “and parishes send” (lest folks think the nutcases came from the high schools) sorry!
I attended the Vigil last night at the National Shrine, then Bishop Loverde’s Mass. At 11:00 pm the Byzantine Metropolitan of Pittsburgh led their Compline…absolutely beautiful, I miss being able to get to Divine Liturgy! After that it was Adoration and Holy Hours through the night, each led by a different seminary; a fair number of people (not including me) stayed for the entire vigil. Bishop Loverde’s sermon at the Mass…ah, look it up. It’s worth it, though mere printed words won’t convey the way he spoke. (And even those words escape me at present, lack of sleep will do that.)
Went solo to the March itself; followed my usual tactic of weaving through the crowd until I found a group praying the Rosary – the CFRs, this time around. I was near the back of the March, so no idea of size. Maybe I’m just getting older, but is the March getting younger? Lot of teens, at least in my area of the March. No address by the President, of course, but a pro-life African American was among the speakers.
What made me angry, as an in-house grumble, was the disrespect shown by many of the teens to the city and people of Washington DC. The teens all took the PRO-LIFE stickers being handed out; they all peeled off the backings; they all dropped the backings on the ground. 7th St, near Verizon Center, was absolutely trashed with backings and fallen stickers. A couple stickers were even put on parked cars. Not impressive behavior.
My son went; he said the crowds were enormous.
I saw a little bit of coverage on the fox news channel; none anywhere else, except of course for EWTN’s live coverage. I really appreciate what they do for those of us who want to at least feel a little bit like we know something about what’s going on. We keep it on all day, on both the TV and computer to keep it at the forefront of our minds. It’s an important day; it reminds me to pray.
And this is my own opinion but Obama’s language in his statement, especially those last two sentences? Sounds like someone who’s been personally involved with an abortion. I’m not saying yes; I’m saying s/he fits the description completely (Highly educated, occupationally successful, not going to let an unplanned pregnancy “punish” either of us, etc. etc.) and I wouldn’t be surprised at all.
I must keep praying.
For those not in attendance, may I recommend Fr. Shall’s homily at at the Right to Life Mass
http://ignatiusinsight.com/features2009/schall_dignity_jan09.asp
at Dalghren Chapel, Georgetown University, January 20, 2009 on recognizing that which “is the most important thing about us,” the purpose of being human (ie not political power and not apparitions, something I and the folks I spent the day need to reflect more upon –splinter and mote, and all that).
“I’m saying s/he fits the description completely (Highly educated, occupationally successful, not going to let an unplanned pregnancy “punish” either of us, etc. etc.)”
Actually, that is the demographic LEAST likely to have an abortion.
Abortions are most common among poorer women, the working class, etc. Those are also the women who have the highest birth rates.
Well educated, successful women are also usually very sucessful at using birth control, and have easier access to it. With modern birth control being almost 100% effective if used correctly, most high achieving women are able to plan pregnancy pretty accurately, while working class and poor women do not have the access or motivation to use birth control as effectively.
Being from an wealthy and well educated background, I do not know a single young women from my class who has had an abortion or unintended pregnancy. Not. One.
Just saying…
Not expecting anything different, I checked out the web sites of CNN, Fox News, NY Times and WaPo. Just the last one had the March for Life headlined. At least the local paper couldn’t ignore an event drawing tens of thousands.
My sons and I went to Eucharistic adoration at our church yesterday. My 2 1/2 year-old had the “Give me Jesus” song on his mind so he often said “Gimme Jesus!” and a few “Ahmighty God ah highest” in the only volume of sound capable for a 2 1/2 year old.
My comments on President Obama’s statement:
“…we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies,”
– Sure, but Roe v. Wade is not about the prevention of pregnancies, it’s about the ending of them by the intentional killing of the unborn child.
“…reduce the need for abortion,”
–There is no need for abortion.
“…and support women and families in the choices they make.”
–We are not united in supporting the choice to murder.
“To accomplish these goals, we must work to find common ground to expand access to affordable contraception, accurate health information, and preventative services.”
–Contraception is the root of the problem. Preventative services are used to prevent illnesses and diseases. It seems I just wiped the common ground off my shoes in the grass.
“It seems that people still has not heard: Obama repealed the Mexico City policy yesterday. This administration will now fund overseas abortions.”
Paul, just to clarify. WE will now fund overseas abortions with our taxes.
36 years of battling Roe v. Wade has not slowed the rate of abortion.” (Some of you might disagree on that particular statement, which isn’t the point.)
Heard of 95/10; never heard anything come of it, not even a draft proposal.
I don’t disagree much with the particular statement above – all the more reason RvW needs to go. Until it does, 95/10 is really nothing more than a different way of expressing 9.5.
Basic probelm is too many people want their back-up contraception, and want to avoid the (admittedly daunting) responsibility of parenthood. Given the complete lack of responsibility shown by our current generation in a multitude of areas, that is hardly surprising.
We can pray that Malia and Sasha ask, “Why are there so many people out there, Daddy?” And then, “What’s abortion, Daddy?”
Please, Lord, let him be the one who has to explain it to them. It’s when we see the look on a child’s face upon hearing the explanation that we see the real, unmasked truth of it all.
anon grad student,
Where are you getting your data?
c matt,
Yes, the SCOTUS, in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, clearly says that since people have planned their lives and indeed organized society for the past twenty-five years (at that time) based on the availability of reliable contraception, therefore abortion must continue to be available should contraception fail.
That’s the law of the land, God help us.
Contraception is directly connected to abortion.
Didn’t march; have marched before.
I live hard by Capitol South Metro station, so I saw a lot of marchers at the end of the day. Chatted with a few of them. Seemed like a lot of people.
I am waiting to hear how these “progressive pro-life Catholics who voted for Obama” are planning to reduce the need for abortion. Where are the Catholics in Alliance fundraisers, publicity, lobbying efforts on behalf of those existing crisis pregnancy organizations that help pregnant mothers and their children with food, shelter, and clothing? Or shouldn’t I hold my breath waiting for such tangibles to come forth from Kmiec, et. al?
The trouble with the march is that it is like a family reunion. It’s too much like the Catholic social event/field trip of the year. The media doesn’t cover it so it doesn’t even raise conciousness anymore.
anon grad student,
As a woman who is both wealthy and well-educated myself, and one who teaches young women from wealthy and well-educated backgrounds, I can tell you that other wealthy and well-educated women do have abortions. I’m glad to know that you do not personally know of anyone in your group of friends who has had an abortion or unplanned pregnancy, but to assert from your anecdotal evidence that it doesn’t happen or happens so rarely as to be negligible is a very large leap of logic.
The young women who were my own peers who had unplanned pregnancies decided to carry the babies to term. (If any of my high school classmates had abortions, I was not aware of it.) I graduated in 1998, two years before the FDA approved RU-486; perhaps if that drug had been available instead of surgical abortion methods, more of these young women would have gone that route. I don’t know. By and large, they decided to parent their children. Most are married today, although not all, and several are married to the fathers of those unplanned babies.
I started teaching at a private Catholic high school six years ago, and I know of at least fifteen to twenty students in that time period who’ve undergone abortions out of the 1,200 or so students I’ve taught. Maybe it’s not a large number, but it’s certainly not unheard of. No student since I’ve been there has chosen to carry an unplanned pregnancy to term. Many of them were strongly encouraged or flat-out told by their wealthy and well-educated parents to have the abortions. And believe me, these young women are smart, high-achieving, and capable of using birth control correctly. They are very motivated to avoid pregnancy. In fact, they fear pregnancy more than they fear contracting a life-threatening STD. It doesn’t always work.
It is a deeply sad thing to hear our President use phrases like “punished with a baby” or imply that a child is an insurmountable obstacle to a woman’s ability to educate herself, have a fulfilling career, receive merit-based pay, and enjoy the opportunity to pursue her dreams. That’s what many of my students and their families believe, and it’s certainly not what we’re teaching at school or at church.
“too much like the Catholic social event/field trip of the year”..yes, we need to evangelize the Evangelicals :)
I was at the March for the first time ever yesterday! Here’s my report with video, including an interview by me with a priest about FOCA:
http://subcreators.com/blog/2009/01/23/march-for-life-2009/
(My apologies for the truly appalling quality of the video. I got home too late last night for anything but a quick low-quality transfer. I’ll do the time-consuming work of converting the high-quality .avi I shot to something better tonight).
I was very interested to see the group who came over from Italy holding their own mini-rally on the steps of a building near the Supreme court. They were holding a lovely sign with a picture of St. Gianna Berretta Molla, Italy’s pro-life saint. I wonder whether an American group or parish sponsored them to come over, or whether they paid for it themselves. Anyone know? (They were standing right next to a group from St. John Kantius parish in Chicago).
According to EWTN, there were groups from Spain, Malta and Ireland as well. Amazing.
EWTN’s coverage was fantastic. I watched the replay on streaming video when I got home, but it cut off just as the March was nearing the Supreme court. I’ll try again when it replays Saturday morning.
anon grad student:
I was talking even more so about the language that Obama himself used; he and his wife fit the description of his own words:
“…the chance to attain a world-class education;…”
They’re both highly educated.
“…to have fulfilling careers in any industry;…”
They’ve both reached the top of the top.
“…and to have no limits on their dreams…”
His own words were “punished” with a baby; that would certainly include a “limit” on her dreams, if her dreams didn’t include a third child.
My point was that he uses language as if he’s defending his (or his wife’s) “choice”. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but to me, that’s what I can’t help but think is a very likely possibility. And if not her, maybe one of his prior girlfriends? Maybe a niece or cousin? Most definitely a good friend; I don’t think I know anyone their/our age who doesn’t know at least one woman who has had an abortion. I know many more than just one.
Wow, the more I think about that the more I’m shocked at how far that net reaches. I know too many. I guarantee that they do, too.
curmudgeon:
I’ve never heard of this 95/10 strategy, either with respect to abortion or any other social/moral ill. But the pro-life movement is not about reducing abortion 95 percent in 10 years. It’s about saving both women and babies from the horrors of abortion. Not 95 percent. All of them. The only way to make sure our efforts are fueled by love, rather than a desire for achieving certain statistics, is to use all means at our disposal–and that includes legislation. I’m amazed by how many people still move from the premise “legislation won’t end the problem of abortion” to the conclusion “let’s stop attempting any legislative change.” It’s true, legislation isn’t everything. But striving for legal change is the least we can do, and so we must do it. What we–as a self-governing people–say in law is an expression of what we believe to be true and good. Our souls are on the line here more than anywhere else. There never has been and never will be anything like full-compliance with the law, either with respect to abortion or any other matter. But the written laws of lands can do and do change minds and hearts. And laws also express minds and hearts, which is why laws permitting abortion are so ghastly: not only do women get abortions, but they do so with the collective approval of the whole people. And our callous approval and complicity as a nation in abortion is far worse than some frightened woman’s abortion itself. It’s not about numbers. It’s about the reality itself–that abortion, any abortion, enjoys any legal approval is the greatest horror here.
I don’t think that a law that is aimed at reducing abortions (rather than outlawing them) will necessarily be a better law –unless it’s some kind of progressive legislation aimed ultimately at full protection of the unborn. Quite possibly it will be just as bad. It seems to me that strategies that simply aim at reducing abortions rather than striking at the heart of the problem–the legality of it–is a huge mistake, and moreover will probably not even reduce abortions as effectively or as quickly as striking at the heart will. So, I guess you could say that I think making a point about abortion is more important than reducing abortions. Both are important, but I don’t think abortions will be reduced if abortion-reduction becomes the point. A paradox, I admit, but there are precedents for this kind of paradox: kind of like losing your life if you try to save it, and only being able to save it if you lose it for the right reasons.
anon grad student:
I suspect you may know many “wealthy and well-educated women” who have had abortions–you may just not know who they are. Most women typically aren’t very chatty about their own abortions (small wonder), especially well-heeled women who are supposed to be practiced in the arts of contracepting. After all, poor black and hispanic women get abortions, not rich white women. As a Catholic priest who does a lot of counseling, I have met middle-class and wealthy women who have had abortions. Statistically, I don’t know how it all breaks down, but that isn’t the point. Those who consider abortion morally okay will have little difficulty drawing an inference favorable to themselves if the need arises–you know, if contraceptives fail. And a propos that point you made about making successful use of contraception: the pill is itself abortifacient, so that is in fact not contracepting but aborting. But even aside from that fact, the problem of contraception is in fact inseparable from the problem of abortion. Both spring from the same desire to be lord of life: the lord of one’s own life, the lord of the life of others.
I’ve heard of the 95/10 strategy, too.
I also know that Obama refused to endorse it.
–Being from an wealthy and well educated background, I do not know a single young women from my class who has had an abortion or unintended pregnancy. Not. One.
you have no idea what you are talking about.
you’ve asked all of them? and they would all tell you the truth?
In my college dorm, an Ivy League school, in the early 90s, every girl on my floor had had an abortion AND TOLD the other girls about it–it was difficult to hide the pregnancies, harder still to hide the leaking milk ducts, and difficult to hide the bleeding. how many girls are there who didn’t tell? who were ashamed? I knew one girl who tried to kill herself shortly thereafter. I knew another girl who tried to kill herself during the abortion (by taking an overdose of sedatives and not telling the anesthesiologist.)
I’ve met a half a dozen women since then who were open enough to tell me as well, several who were not at all close to me, but it was too important to them for keep quiet. (most of them were still pro-abortion, and that’s why they told. ) All of them were from white, middle or upper class backgrounds, and all had gone to elite undergrad educations at least.
I too had one. I don’t tell casually, for a whole host of reasons, the main one being that I am terrified of the day that my sons find out I murdered their sibling. I have since received the Grace of God, confessed my sin, and become pro life.
I don’t think you have any idea how prevalent this evil is. and yes, it is more prevalent in poorer communities, in the African American community. but it is everywhere else too.
I have wanted to attend the March for years and finally made it this year. We watched the Mass from the Basilica on EWTN then left on the bus at 4 am. We were pretty far away from the stage at the rally when we noticed a man in clerics and a Steelers ballcap mingling with the crowd – Bishop Zubik! What a man of the people.
The problem with 95/10 and any other “just till I need glasses” approach is that even if it manages to produce a less destructive outcome overall, it undermines its own intent by failing to affirm the principle. It is therefore unstable and its effects will be felt elsewhere in unforeseen ways. By setting out to achieve a particular human outcome based on statistical measures, it says that nobody has value individually, only collectively and according to society’s view of their utility. In that respect, it’s a Missouri Compromise for human life.
I attended the march for the first time on Thursday, and it was everything I had ever been told it was: a mostly positive, even joyful celebration of life. I think I saw maybe a couple of pro-choice protesters, maybe five in all, but that it was it. As for the number of participants, I’d say it was around a hundred thousand, maybe a few more. Some of my friends who have been on the March several times said the crowd was about average size. Also, as several people had told me, it seemed like a mostly Catholic affair, though you did see banners from “Lutherans for Life” and other local Protestant churches, as well as some from pro-life groups at secular universities. I was in town staying with a friend who had worked for several years for a pro-life group in DC, and we went to the march with his parish, which is mostly Hispanic, and it was pretty fun: they had a mariachi band (or something approximating a mariachi band) in front of their banner, and it was quite festive. I didn’t see anyone angry or in your face for the most part. There were a few provocative signs, a few directed at Obama, but that’s to be expected. It didn’t really feel like a protest to me (that is, angry, self-righteous, preening, etc.) but more like a celebration. All in all, I was impressed, and I hope to go again.
If a house is locked, and you knock on the front door for 30 years and still do not gain entrance, maybe it’s time to try to gain entrance through other means. The back door, a window.
I think the reduction of abortion begins with changing people’s hearts.
Clare –
I finally got a chance to look at the pictures from D.C. and I believe you were in the lunch line with students from my high school alma mater in Alabama (I saw their banner in the snapshots).
It’s a thrill to know that they were there; we did not go to D.C. when I was a student ten or so years ago, although we held monthly Respect Life vigils in front of the school that were always attended by 30+ students.