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Pence to Address Anti-Abortion March in Washington Pence Will Address Abortion Opponents Marching in Washington
(about 1 hour later)
On the 44th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, anti-abortion activists gather on Friday in Washington for their annual march, which has taken place every year since 1974 to protest the decision. Right Now: Vice President Mike Pence is addressing the crowd in Washington.
■ Vice President Mike Pence will address the gathering in person, the highest ranking official to speak at the march. Abortion opponents gather on Friday in Washington for their annual march, which has taken place every year since 1974 to protest the Supreme Court’s 44-year-old Roe v. Wade decision from 1973.
■ Vice President Mike Pence will address the gathering in person, the highest-ranking official expected to speak at the march.
■ Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, will also be speaking.■ Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Trump, will also be speaking.
■ The march is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of activists. ■ The march is expected to draw thousands of activists.
In sending Mr. Pence to address the rally in person, the Trump administration is sending a strong signal of support to those who oppose abortion. President Ronald Reagan and President George W. Bush had addressed previous marches remotely. Opponents of abortion gather every year on the National Mall and march to the Supreme Court. Usually their defiance is not much more than symbolism — the court is the origin of Roe v. Wade, the decision in 1973 that they have sought for more than 40 years to overturn.
Mr. Trump, who once supported abortion rights, aggressively and successfully courted social conservatives during his presidential campaign. Mr. Trump said he would announce his choice on Thursday to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court left by the death of Antonin Scalia, and has affirmed that his choice would be an opponent of abortion rights. This year they have ample reason to believe that under a Republican-dominated government, they will begin to see movement for the first time in more than a decade.
The march will serve as a studied contrast to the Women’s March a week ago that assembled in large part as a protest of Mr. Trump’s policies. A noon rally will give way to the march an hour later, ending at the Supreme Court. In previous years, no president or vice president has ever addressed the march in person. This year, the Trump administration will be out in full force with the appearances of Mr. Pence and Ms. Conway.
While the organizers have said they do not have a way of anticipating crowd numbers, Washington’s Department of Transportation confirmed that 92 bus permits had been issued, compared with 1,800 for the Women’s March. The crowd will most likely skew younger, with Catholic and evangelical Christian high-school and college groups making up some of the more enthusiastic anti-abortion organizers across the country. President Trump, in one of his first official acts, signed an order prohibiting foreign aid to health providers abroad who discuss abortion as a family-planning option. And in a break with previous Republican presidents, he has embraced the idea of a litmus test for his Supreme Court nominees and pledged explicitly to name someone who opposes abortion. He said he would announce his choice on Thursday to fill the seat left vacant by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia last February.
Mr. Trump has become an unlikely champion for the movement, with abortion opponents saying he is probably their most unflinching White House ally since President Ronald Reagan. Though Mr. Trump spent much of his life as a supporter of abortion rights, he spoke more vividly and forcefully on the issue during the campaign than any recent Republican nominee.
And while many groups opposing abortion were vehemently opposed to Mr. Trump during the Republican primaries last year, almost all of them came around. Today, however unexpectedly, they march in a Washington suddenly more friendly to their interests.
Many of the activists said they were looking forward to President Trump appointing Supreme Court justices who might overturn the right to abortions and to the defunding of Planned Parenthood. Marchers waved signs spelling out their beliefs in messages like “Save the babies,” “Pro-Child, Pro-Women, Pro-Life,” and “Trump for Baby Bumps.”
Still, some of the marchers remained wary of the new president.
Kathleen Crank, 19, a sophomore at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., traveled on a five bus caravan of 260 students to come to the march. She said she was happy to have a president who would oppose abortion but wasn’t excited about much else about Mr. Trump. She said she waited until the last minute and decided not to vote for either him or Hillary Clinton.
“Their stance on abortion is probably the only issue I’m glad about for this administration,” she said. “I’m glad that after eight years of reading Obama’s tweets celebrating Roe v. Wade, I’m glad we finally have an administration that is recognizing we need to cut funding for abortions in other countries and bringing it back down to the state level.”
Ms. Crank also said she saw abortions as less about religion than about preserving the rights of unborn children. “It’s more a social justice issue for unborn babies than a religious one to push an agenda,” she said. “Everyone should be able to live their life and live it however they want to.”
Annette Saunders, 60, drove five hours with her husband from Norwalk, Conn., to volunteer with Save the Storks, a group that opposes abortion, and to hand out signs that said, “For those who can’t.” Though she voted for Mr. Trump, Ms. Saunders said she agonized over the decision because she found him to be “crass” and was frustrated by the tape of him using vulgarities to talk about women.
“I was concerned but I felt like God told me to vote for Donald Trump,” she said. “He is standing up for pro-life and his vice president certainly is and I’m excited about seeing a turnaround.”
In sending Mr. Pence to address the rally in person, the Trump administration is sending a strong signal of support to those who oppose abortion. President Reagan and President George W. Bush had addressed previous marches remotely.
Mr. Trump aggressively and successfully courted social conservatives during his presidential campaign.
The gathering will serve as a contrast to the Women’s March a week ago that assembled in large part as a protest of Mr. Trump’s policies.
While the organizers have said they do not have a way of anticipating crowd numbers, Washington’s Department of Transportation confirmed that 92 bus permits had been issued, compared with 1,800 for the Women’s March. The crowd will most likely skew younger, with Catholic and evangelical Christian high-school and college groups making up some of the more enthusiastic marchers.