Less than a week after the Women’s March brought an estimated 500,000 to the streets of Washington, hundreds of thousands of anti-abortion activists gathered on the National Mall.
But on Friday, less than a week after marchers created a sea of Planned Parenthood and pro-choice signs, another group converged on the nation’s capital to have their voices heard.
Hundreds of thousands of marchers, including students from the University of Maryland, flocked to Washington for the 44th annual March for Life. The march has been held every year since the Supreme Court issued its Roe v. Wade decision – which made abortion legal nationwide – on Jan. 22, 1973. Although the march is typically on the anniversary of the landmark court case, the inauguration pushed it back a week.
Even marchers who could not get into the rally site lined up in front of barricades and fences to hear speakers including Vice President Pence, senior Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Ia.), who has spearheaded efforts to defund Planned Parenthood.
At a rally before the march, cheers greeted Pence – the first vice president in history to speak at a March for Life – as he walked on stage. He assured attendees that Trump would keep his longtime campaign promise to appoint a Supreme Court justice who will overturn Roe v. Wade.
“Life is winning in America,” Pence told the crowd of marchers. “President Trump asked me to be here today to ask for your support.”
The Trump administration was in the promise-keeping business, Pence added. Within his first week in office, Trump has already signed an executive order banning aid given to foreign aid groups that provide abortions.
As Conway took the stage, she reminded the crowd of Trump’s commitment to those who are anti-abortion.
“We hear you, we see you and we look forward to working with you,” she said.
Katie Edwards, a senior civil engineering major, attended both the Women’s March and the March for Life. She considers herself a pro-life feminist, part of a group of left-leaning feminists who oppose abortion, she said.
Many pro-life women felt excluded from the Women’s March on Washington on Jan. 21. Organizers at last week’s march had initially accepted an anti-abortion group’s application to become an official partner, but eventually rescinded it and released a statement emphasizing the march’s pro-choice platform.
“There are feminists who are pro-life,” said Brianna Roberts of Reading, Pennsylvania. “Being adopted, being pro-life was an automatic choice. I think this will be the year we see change with the new president.”
While many women who went to the march considered themselves to be feminists and pro-life, other large groups of demonstrators traveled to Washington as part of a religious organization.
This university’s Catholic Terps had a group of about 50 students attend the march. The group met at the Catholic Student Center for a prayer before taking the Metro together, and several students volunteered at a youth rally at the Verizon Center before the march, said Noah Wichrowski, a Catholic Terp.
“It was a really great experience,” the senior chemical engineering and math major said. “It was good to see the vast number of people out there for such a great cause. It was also great to see the diversity of backgrounds in the people who were there.”
Josh Batugo, a sophomore computer science major, took part in the march to stand up for his beliefs. As a Catholic Terps member, he sometimes goes to abortion clinics and prays for women who use them. Standing outside of the clinics shows women that they have the choice of life, he said.
“We are marching with a purpose,” Batugo said. “Marching with everyone around me and knowing that we are marching for something good, for something worthwhile and something that is important that we believe, especially for a Catholic.”
Speakers at the rally also mentioned the importance of families, and many marchers held signs with pro-family slogans. One read, “There are no unwanted children, just unfound families.”
“In terms of fighting for life, this is not solely for all the children, [but] also for their mothers and anyone else affected,” Wichrowski said.
As they marched, demonstrators carried pro-life signs saying, “Defund Planned Parenthood,” and “I am the pro-life generation.” They sang along to Christian rock music playing and cheered as a father lifted up his toddler above his head.
Yacine Fall, a student at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design in Washington, has been protesting outside of the White House since Trump’s inauguration but did not join Friday’s march, as she is pro-choice.
“People can choose whatever they want,” Fall said. “This is my body, my choice. You don’t have the right to choose for them.”
Ryan Marsan, a student from American University, attended the march to support Planned Parenthood. He held a sign attached to a plastic coat hanger that read, “Never Again.”
“Dissent in this country is patriotic,” Marsan said. “It’s okay to be personally pro-life, but you can’t make that decision for everyone.”
