News of an impending ice storm did not deter about 5,000 pro-lifers from marching for life on Saturday in Lincoln, Nebraska.
The annual Walk for Life, sponsored by Nebraska Right to Life, drew the large crowd as well as prominent state and federal lawmakers, the Omaha World-Herald reports. Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts spoke, along with Lt. Gov Mike Foley and U.S. Sen. Ben Sasse.
The pro-life event included a rally outside the state Capitol and a balloon release to symbolize the babies lost to abortion, followed by a keynote address at the University of Nebraska Lincoln Student Union.
Keynote speaker Rebekah Buell shared how she faced two unplanned, teen pregnancies and tried to abort one of her unborn sons. Immediately regretting it, Buell called the abortion pill reversal hotline, and doctors were able to help save her baby’s life. Her son Zechariah is now 3 years old.
“[He] was born perfectly healthy and he is amazing,” Buell said, according to the Lincoln Journal-Star.
The crowd seemed hopeful about the new Congress and president in regard to pro-life issues.
The Journal-Star reports more:
[Nebraska U.S. Sen. Ben] Sasse recently secured a seat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, which handles abortion-related legislation and will play a key role in vetting President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy left by late Justice Antonin Scalia.
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It’s the first time Nebraska has held a seat on the committee since shortly after the Supreme Court’s landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which guaranteed women the right to abortions.
Abortion opponents hope Trump’s election will help shift the high court in their favor and begin Roe v. Wade’s undoing.
Trump has so far identified 21 potential nominees to fill Scalia’s seat; Sasse said he feels “very good” about those options.
Republican congressional leaders are also mounting an effort to defund Planned Parenthood.
People at Saturday’s rally were optimistic about their newfound momentum.
“We’ve prayed for this since the ‘70s, when we were in high school,” said Chris Watson, 60, of Omaha.
A few abortion activists protested the event and tried to interrupt the speakers, according to local news reports.
Nebraska Right to Life organizes the march every year around the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. Handed down in 1973, the infamous decision allows abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy. It led to the deaths of nearly 60 million unborn babies to abortions in the past 44 years.
