Anti-abortion protesters optimistic at March for Life in DC

Individuals attend the March for Life rally on the Nationwide Mall in Washington, Friday, Jan. 21, 2022. The March for Life, for many years an annual protest in opposition to abortion, arrives this yr because the Supreme Courtroom has indicated it's going to enable states to impose tighter restrictions on abortion with a ruling within the coming months.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The annual anti-abortion rally within the nation’s capital sounded extra like a victory celebration as audio system expressed a rising sense of optimism that their long-sought aim, a sweeping rollback of abortion rights in America, was lastly in attain.

1000's of protesters rallied within the bitter chilly Friday and marched to the Supreme Courtroom, which has indicated it's going to enable states to impose tighter restrictions on abortion with a ruling within the coming months — and presumably overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade choice that affirmed the constitutional proper to an abortion.

“It doesn’t really feel actual. There’s a lot hope and vibrancy and happiness and pleasure at this factor,” mentioned Jordan Moorman of Cincinnati. “I actually do consider that we’re in a post-Roe technology.”

The annual March for Life rally, held sooner or later earlier than the forty ninth anniversary of the Roe choice, passed off amid a COVID-19 surge that restricted turnout on the Nationwide Mall. Some abortion opponents posted on the occasion’s Fb web page that they'd not attend due to vaccine mandates for folks going to eating places and different locations within the District of Columbia.

Nonetheless, the rally drew a crowd of hundreds, with a heavy contingent of younger folks and college students bussed in by colleges and church teams. The temper was overwhelmingly upbeat, with many treating the top of Roe v. Wade as inevitable.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, in a press release launched Saturday, mentioned the correct established below Roe “is below assault as by no means earlier than” and so they mentioned they have been dedicated “to making sure that this nation shouldn't be pushed backwards on ladies’s equality.”

“We should make sure that our daughters and granddaughters have the identical basic rights that their moms and grandmothers fought for and received on today, 49 years in the past,” they mentioned.

On Friday, Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Schooling and Protection Fund, instructed the group that Roe shouldn't be settled regulation and “we hope and praying that this yr, 2022, will carry a historic change for all times.”

“If Roe falls, the battle strains will change, however make no mistake the struggle for all times might want to proceed within the states and right here in D.C.,” Mancini mentioned.

The Rev. Andrew Rudmann, a Catholic priest from New Orleans, was attending his eleventh occasion. “Hopefully this would be the final March for Life,” he mentioned.

“Generally I might come to the March and it will be nice to be united with individuals who share my beliefs, however there would even be this heaviness,” he mentioned. “This time the entire language and vibe is totally different.”

The celebratory and triumphant temper of the day was maybe greatest encapsulated by a contingent from New York Metropolis that bounced previous the Supreme Courtroom constructing with dancing nuns and drummers taking part in Latin rhythms.

Abortion rights teams fear that no less than 26 states are in line to additional restrict abortion entry if Roe is weakened or overturned. In December, the court docket indicated in a significant case that it will uphold a Mississippi ban on abortions after 15 weeks of being pregnant, and permit states to ban abortion even earlier. The Mississippi case instantly challenges Roe.

Courts have additionally dealt Texas abortion suppliers a string of defeats over efforts to dam a regulation that since September has banned abortions as soon as cardiac exercise is detected, which is normally round six weeks and earlier than some ladies know they're pregnant. One other loss for Texas clinics got here Thursday, when the Supreme Courtroom refused to hurry up the continuing problem over the regulation, which suppliers say is now prone to keep in impact for the foreseeable future.

“This regulation is merciless and unconstitutional, and I'm deeply disillusioned that our judicial system has carried out little or no to cease it,” mentioned Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of Entire Girl’s Well being, which operates 4 abortion clinics in Texas.

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Video journalist Nathan Ellgren contributed to this report. Weber reported from Austin, Texas. Pettus reported from Jackson, Mississippi.