The 38th annual March for Life took place on Monday, January 23, 2012. A record crowd descended on Washington, DC for the rally and march.

March for Life a big draw

A picket sign at the 2012 March for Life reads, "I'm for life, because each life is a dream of God's heart." Photo: CNAV.

The March for Life is always a big draw. This year, about 250,000 people drove or rode in on buses to rally on the Washington Mall. Most brought signs and banners, some that they had made themselves, and others that their organizers had printed. Even the cold and rain did not stop this crowd, which every year is larger than the last. The Capitol Police closed several streets and avenues on and near Capitol Hill for the events.

The rally began in the late morning, on the Mall west of 7th Street W. By 1:00 p.m., marchers streamed up 7th Street to Constitution Avenue, then turned east to walk up Capitol Hill. They turned south at First Street NE and finished by marching past the Supreme Court.

The March for Life Education and Defense Fund is already planning next year’s rally and march.

The 2012 March for Life finishes with a stream of marchers past the Supreme Court house on First Street East.

The March for Life has taken place every year since January 22, 1974, the first anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade. That decision, and the related one in Doe v. Bolton, made abortion available on demand, at any time, for any reason or no reason. No other country in the world makes abortion as freely available.

Support for this regime has fallen hard recently. A new Marist poll finds that about 80 percent of Americans would like to restrict abortion in some way. More than half of all Americans would ban abortion either completely or except only in cases of rape or incest, or to save the mother’s life.

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), one of twelve children, spoke at the rally. Representatives Scott Garrett (R-NJ-5) and Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ-4) spoke at a reception in the Gold Room of the Sam Rayburn House Office Building at 3:00 p.m. The crowd there was so large that it spilled out into the hallway.

Presidential abortion politics

Abortion will certainly divide Republicans and Democrats in this year’s Presidential election, no matter whom the Republicans nominate. The man now holding office as President, Barack H. Obama, is on record as saying that “a baby” would “punish” a woman unjustly for an indiscreet act. But every Republican in the race (Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Ron Paul) would like to see the Supreme Court vacate and reverse the Roe and Doe cases. Paul would not seek a federal law (or Constitutional amendment) forbidding abortion. He believes that abortion is a criminal matter for States to decide, as States decide how to define and punish murders and other violent crimes. But the other three want the law to forbid abortion everywhere. (Mitt Romney has a slightly different history, and some pro-life advocates do not trust him when he says he stands with them this year.)

This divide would change only if none of these four can win enough delegates to nominate him on the first ballot in the Republican National Convention. In that case, the four would strike a deal. But if they cannot, then a “dark horse candidate” might arise. But most likely “dark horse” candidates oppose abortion at least as much as do any of the four current contenders.

Rick Santorum as the junior Senator from Pennsylvania. Credit: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported License

Rick Santorum was the heavy favorite among March for Life marchers who carried signs telling the world whom they preferred. When he served in the Senate, he was the most consistent foe of abortion in that body. Senators who were serving then probably still remember his “It’s a baby!” line, after which a baby in the gallery wailed, almost as if on cue.

Where do we draw the line? Some people have likened [dilatation and extraction, also known as partial-birth abortion] to an appendectomy. That’s not an appendix! That is not a blob of tissue! It is a baby. It’s a baby!

(And conservatives today will not likely forgive Alan Colmes for saying that Santorum was “crazy” because he took his stillborn son home to let his family bond with the infant before surrendering it for burial.)

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