Pro-life activists from around the country marked the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion with a massive demonstration in Washington, D.C., on January 22.
President Bush, who spoke to the crowd via telephone, was the featured speaker for this year's March for Life (see his remarks in the coverbox). He was followed by numerous Republican politicians, as well as religious leaders from various denominations.
Members of Congress who spoke included Sen. Sam Brownback (R.-Kan.) and Representatives Steve Chabot (R.-Ohio), Melissa Hart (R.-Pa.), Rick Renzi (R.-Ariz.), Mike Pence (R.-Ind.), Mike Ferguson (R.-N.J.), Scott Garrett (R.-N.J.), Todd Aiken (R.-Mo.), Chris Smith (R.-N.J.), Jim Ryun (R.-Kan.), Todd Tiahrt (R.-Kan.), and Steve King (R.-Iowa).
Here are some of the highlights from the day's speeches.
"I happened to be born on this day 50 years ago. I can't help thinking of the millions of innocent babies who did not have the opportunity to celebrate their birthdays. . . . For eight years, the people who lived in this little house behind us [the White House] blocked us at every turn. But those people have moved on."
"Because of all of you, and the millions of Americans you represent, abortion is in steep decline in America today. Abortion is less available, less legal, and less morally acceptable than at any time since 1973. You alone have exposed the empty promises of the left, who offer choice but deliver only heartache and disappointment and a national conscience seared by pain. . . . I say that it is time to call on the President to send principled pro-life judges to the courts, we will move them through the Congress, and they will overturn Roe v. Wade."
"We must do everything we can to change the hearts and minds of our friends and neighbors."
"Every one of you is part of the most important human rights movement in the world today."
"Sometimes we lose perspective on what exactly has taken place since Roe v. Wade. Since this terrible decision has been made, to replace them, the number of children over the past 30 years, it would take all the population of Spain, that's how many children were killed. Or another way of looking at it is, all of those who have been killed during the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, World War I, World War II, Vietnam, and the Persian Gulf, that's how many children we've killed. More were killed than in all of those wars. We must change this, and we will."
"We are winning and we will lead the culture of life in America. And it's about time. This year, we will pass and the President will sign a bill banning partial-birth abortion. . . . We also must ban the cloning of humans. To clone humans for research purposes is to treat a person no different from a mouse. We're created unique, sacred, special, and in the image of God, to live for His glory and not to be killed for research or for our stem cells. The basic question on the issue of human cloning is, is the young human a person or a piece of property, a person or livestock to be treated as his master chooses?"
"Many rabbis and devout Orthodox Jews asked me to cry out. . . . I don't care if Joe Lieberman mentions God's name 13 times in 90 seconds, or speaks biblically and in Hebrew. He is diametrically opposed to Orthodox Judaism's uncompromising stands on life and decency. And he remains excommunicated. Excommunicated. No matter how many political rabbis he may trot out, the only kind of orthodox Joe Lieberman is, is an orthodox liberal."
