Pro-Life Advocates Mark Abortion Anniversary With More Events
by Maria Gallagher
LifeNews.com Staff Writer
January 21, 2004
Denver, CO (LifeNews.com) — For people around the nation, this might be called "pro-life week."
At marches, at rallies, at prayer services and other events, people from all walks of life, of all ages and ethnic backgrounds, are saying "yes" to life and "no" to abortion.
In Colorado, people gathered over the weekend for the 2004 March for Life sponsored by Colorado Right to Life, an affiliate of National Right to Life.
"We come to commemorate children killed by abortion, now up to 50 million," said Diane Hochevar, president of Colorado Right to Life. "We come to revitalize ourselves for as many years as it takes (to end abortion)."
Star Parker, a cable television commentator, said, "We want to be the ones to say, ‘I did everything I could to stop it (abortion).’"
Marchers walked to the headquarters of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion operation. Demonstrator Matt Titus, 52, told the Associated Press, "I’m hoping by a strong showing, the government will get the idea that the people care about the unborn."
Meanwhile, in Michigan, rallies are underway to promote an overturn of the governor’s veto of a partial-birth abortion ban.
The Lenawee chapter of Right to Life of Michigan, for instance, staged a rally Monday in Adrian. The rally helped to promote a statewide effort to gather petition signatures to outlaw partial-birth abortion in Michigan.
Through the initiative, known as "The People’s Override," the partial-birth abortion ban vetoed by pro-abortion Gov. Jennifer Granholm would be returned to the state legislature.
Petition organizers say 254,206 signatures are needed for the effort.
During a news conference promoting the petition drive last week, Michigan Right to Life President Barbara Listing said, "We will drain the ink from the governor’s veto pen."
"This People’s Override is in response to the outpouring of concern for children who are in the process of being born," said Listing. "Gov. Granholm’s veto of the Legal Birth Definition Act shows her radical pro-abortion position."
The petition drive is also likely to be the subject of conversation at a March for Life in Holland, Michigan at 7 p.m. tonight (Monday).
To show their support, three area mayors, Al McGeehan of Holland, Don Van Doeselaar of Hudsonville, and Les Hoogland of Zeeland, have proclaimed this "Value of Human Life Week."
The sheer numbers of pro-life events in Michigan, Colorado, and elsewhere show the strength of the pro-life movement in the U.S., pro-life leaders say. That strength is bolstered by public opinion polls, which show that Americans are increasingly pro-life.
