March for Life rallies in Washington, sensing victory within reach | The Tribune

WASHINGTON Thousands of anti-abortion activists massed on the National Mall in Washington on Friday, embolden by a new Republican-led government and confident that President Donald Trump will fulfill his promise to put a conservative on the Supreme Court.

While the Right to Life March comes to the capital city every year around the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, long-time attendees said this year’s event could be the last one that is framed as a protest. By 2018, these conservative activists hope to be celebrating new restrictions on access to abortion nationwide.

“Life is winning in America,” Vice President Mike Pence told the rally. “That is evident in the election of pro-life majorities in the Congress of the United States of America.”

Pence, the first sitting vice president in history to address this annual rally, said their movement was on the verge of victory with conservatives in control of both the White House and Congress. And soon a conservative will tilt the balance on the Supreme Court as well, he said, reiterating Trump’s pledge.

The crowd erupted in cheers, reflecting what many described as a feeling that victory for the anti-abortion movement was in reach for the first time in more than a decade.

“It feels different. For the first time, the administration is on our side,” said Brenna Lewis, a 22-year-old from Lexington, Kentucky. The full-time employee with Students for Life of America – a national organization that provides training, resources and support for anti-abortion college and high school student groups – handed out “I Am the Pro-Life Generation” signs.

“This is like the Super Bowl for the pro-life movement,” she said

On Friday morning, Trump tweeted that he’s in “full support” of the March for Life.

Trump wrote: “The #MarchForLife is so important. To all of you marching --- you have my full support!”

The march started between the White House and the Washington Monument and concluded at the Supreme Court. As Pence and others were speaking, throngs of marchers began pouring down Constitution Avenue before the official start of the march and the official police escort had to fight its way to the front of the eager crowd.

Pence called on the spirited crowd to carry out their rally and march with gentleness and to approach women who are pregnant “with generosity, not judgment.”

Much of the crowd on Friday was comprised of Catholics who have a strong religious objection to abortion, a community that has had to come to terms with supporting a president who has been divorced multiple times and said during the 2016 campaign that he generally supports Planned Parenthood.

“I would not call Trump a great example for Catholics,” said 16-year-old Damien Walz of Dallas. “But as long as he will do what he promised, that’s what matters.”

Doing what he promised includes overturning Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion at the federal level. Pence’s remarks on Friday suggest that is a high priority.

On the campaign trail, Trump was “bold” and seems to be a champion for protecting unborn babies, Barbara Holt said in a phone interview with McClatchy as she rode a train from North Carolina to Washington early Friday morning. Holt is president of the North Carolina Right to Life organization.

“He called out Hillary Clinton during the whole election cycle,” said Holt, who’s from Elon, North Carolina.

With Republicans in control of Congress and the White House, Holt said, she’s expecting multiple victories with anti-abortion legislation. At the state level, her organization is gearing up to push the N.C. General Assembly to restrict certain types of abortion procedures. The legislation Holt will lobby for is a type of bill commonly referred to as a “dismemberment abortion” ban.

Around the National Mall on Friday, police and security presence was light but attendees inside the official rally went through an “airport-like” screening process. Pence’s late-Thursday addition to the speaker lineup likely increased security precautions.

Lewis said she expects counter-protesters, too, as anti-Trump demonstrators try to hold on to the momentum they built by amassing half a million people on the mall for the Women’s March on Washington the day after the inauguration.

Lewis said she had been confronted at that march last Saturday and was spit on.

“I’ve never heard ‘F-U’ directed at me so many times,” Lewis said of the experience.

But as the official march began, there was barely any sign of counter-protesters, and the half-dozen who stood near the National Museum of African American History were largely ignored by the marchers.

Abortion rights activists were a core part of the coalition that organized the women’s march and sister rallies nationwide. Some Students for Life groups reported that they were not allowed to officially join the women’s march but sporadic “pro-life” signs were visible throughout the crowd.

On Friday, March for Life President Jeanne Mancini said her organization viewed itself as “pro-women.”

“Pro-life is pro-woman. That voice might have been shut out last week,” she said.

Like the women’s march, the March for Life brings together people from around the country.

Steve Hoff, of Charlotte, North Carolina, brought 80 students from Charlotte Christian School. He said the 2017 March for Life was special because Trump and Pence had vowed to appoint a conservative Supreme Court justice who would overturn Roe v. Wade.

“Donald Trump is on the verge of appointing a pro-life Supreme Court justice,” Hoff said. “So it is much more exciting for us to be here.”

Trump hasn’t been in office long but already he’s made the March for Life “a little more optimistic,” said Ted Hanman.

Hanman attended the event with the Benedictine College drum and flag corps. They entertained the crowd when music wasn’t playing on the stage. About 200 students on five buses made a 24-hour trip from Atchison, Kansas, to Washington for the March.

“It’s about life, man,” said Will Medina, 22, a drummer with the college group. “I feel it’s a little more positive out here today.”

He applauded Trump’s recent executive action bringing back the “Mexico City policy,” which bans foreign organizations that receive family planning aid from the United States from performing or promoting abortion. But, Medina said, “One person (Trump) isn’t enough to change everything.”