The March for Women's Lives is a yearly (usually) pro-choice demonstration held in Washington D.C. Here are some accounts of the 2006 March for Life from pro-life counter-protestors and observers.
One pro-choicer, whose photo-essay can be found in the INDC Journal, did not skimp on his criticism of pro-lifers. However, he was forced to admit:
"The speeches contained the typical hyperbolic rhetoric, marshalling this crowd of hundreds of thousands to fight the depredations of the "anti-woman" Bush agenda...One harangue in particular caught my attention, delivered by a fiery, square-built woman with close-cropped blonde hair. It was a screaming, apoplectic treatise on the virtues of "cunt power," that demanded that the nation bow to the authority of the "cunt" and pledge allegiance to the the United "Cunts" of America. "My Cunt 'Tis of Thee," etc., etc....At this point, I became a bit disturbed, for the crowd wasn't awkwardly tolerating this obscene and immature rant, rather raising their arms and screaming throaty acceptance of a woman performing second rate porno-schlock, ostensibly as a legitimate representative of one side of a highly divisive and important public issue. I consider myself pro-choice, but this wasn't my crowd, and these orators didn't speak for me."(2)
He then goes on to discuss how the crowd reacted to a line of Episcopal priests standing with the pro-life counter-demonstrators. The priests were standing quietly.
"For the most part, the priests prayed or calmly attempted to speak to protestors that drew near enough to engage them. I had little idea how badly many in the crowd would react to the mere sight of the religious garb.
Mere seconds passed before I witnessed the first bout of rage. Thousands upon thousands of people walked by, and I would say that perhaps a fifth of the individuals within sight and shouting distance had a highly aggressive reaction to the presence the priests. They yelled, spit and uttered shocking profanities. A smattering of the worst:
"F-ck you!"
"Die, you f--king murderers!"
"Why don't you go screw some kids!"
"How many little boys did you f-ck in the ass today?"
"You just want more wayward children around so you can f-ck them!"
"Shouldn't you be off molesting altar boys?"
"You want to kill women? F-ck you!"
It was simply stunning. The second these people...saw the priests, they simply lost their minds. It was like watching a live-action scene from the Exorcist repeated ad infinitum. No exaggeration, no joke.
This was a fine example of hateful mob mentality. The belligerents that screamed the most vile profanities were egged on by the people that they were with, which made for a nice collusion of nasty emotions: violent anger and malicious, hysterical laughter..."(3)
The post showed a number of pictures of pro-choicers hurling abuse at the priests. Here are a few:
At one point a red liquid was thrown, splattering both the priests and a nearby cop.(4)
Accounts from pro-lifers who were there are similar. Pro-Lifer John Lomperis says this of the speakers:
"The agenda of the event clearly went far beyond what even many “pro-choice” Americans believe, as countless speakers denounced the federal ban on partial-birth abortions, called for increased taxpayer funds for abortion, and attacked laws requiring minor girls to notify their parents before undergoing abortion surgery. They also resorted to name-calling, denouncing pro-life people as “cowards,” “peckerwood anti-choice fanatics,” and people “who have no shame,” among many other epithets."(5)
He also makes mention of the reaction of the pro-choice crowd to the pro-life presence at the March.
"During the course of the march, hundreds of peaceful pro-life counter-protestors endured a steady stream of hurled curses, hateful shouts, and even an occasional projectile (including black ink, spit, Planned Parenthood condoms with crude jokes on them, an egg, and a flier picturing Jesus and reading: “Save Lives / Abort Christ”). The main pro-life groups represented were American Collegians for Life; Silent No More (a Christian ministry of and for post-abortive women); Feminists for Life; an African-American evangelical group called the Life, Education and Resource Network (LEARN), and Operation Witness. The pro-choice marchers reserved some of their most energetic shouts and confrontations for the Silent No More women quietly holding signs that said, simply, “I Regret My Abortion.”(6)
Karen A. Torres was at the March with her two daughters, attending the counter-demonstrations. She witnessed a priest mobbed by pro-choice demonstrators.
"Torres said the crowd in the street "went crazy" at the sight of a crucifix and roman collar, coupled with the recitation of the rosary. "It was too much for them," she said. "Women naked from the waist up (except for NARAL stickers) came as close as possible to the priest to scream obscenities and block sight of the crucifix with their signs promoting sex-ed....One enraged man began banging his sign hard against an oversized poster of a baby in the womb, attempting to topple it and possibly its holder," Torres said.
"One man who appeared to be quite serious told us repeatedly that he worshipped Satan and was putting a curse on us. Over and over again we were told that Jesus hated us, God was pro-choice and we were bad Christians who were going to hell.
"But the most hated and attacked target was the priest," Torres said. "For major portions of the march, we could not hear the rosary over the microphone, even though we were only five feet away. At the sight of the priest and his crucifix, people cursed, taunted and chanted slogans, but mostly they just screamed and shrieked incoherently. Between the decibel level and the hate, that sustained screaming was unnervingly like a tidal wave coming at you."
Despite having the worst verbal abuse directed toward him, Torres said, the priest never lost his calm or prayerful focus. He exhibited "patient compassion" in the face of unremitting hate.
"In my 47 years I have never witnessed a better example of grace under pressure — better known as courage — and I would like to write and tell him so," Torres said."(7)
A pro-life demonstrator named Dr. Messe gave the following account of
the March:
“To get into our position on 7th St, we had to cross through the Mall,
right through the pro-abortion crowd. I was naive coming down to
Washington, I did not think they would have that many. But they did have
a large crowd. Our group of one hundred or so walked silently, single
file. The barrage of insults and screaming in our faces was hard to
take....
A group of one hundred young
pro-abortion supporters decided to leave the rally on the Mall and march
in front of us and scream...They played drums and chanted in our face.
They were heavily tattooed and dressed in scanty black clothing. They
rubbed their genitals and made pelvic gestures upon each other.
‘Masturbation, Procreation,’ they shouted over and over again. The
police held them back and after twenty minutes finally made them
continue down the street.
“When the marchers came by, we were assailed by the usual comments, to
which our group did not respond. They said:
“‘If men could get an abortion, it would be a sacrament!’
“‘Shove that crucifix up your A__!’
“‘Jesus was black, not White!’
“‘Jesus was Pro-choice!’
“‘How many babies have you adopted?’
“‘F - - - You!’…while they pointed the middle finger at the crucifix."(8)
Many of the pro-life counter-demonstrators had no connection with organized religion. However, they fared no better. A group of women held up "I Regret My Abortion" signs. One discusses her experience:
"The March, in three words:
"viciously, mercilessly abusive." The amount of verbal aggression and
abuse hurled at me personally, by women and men, of all ages, for
carrying the I REGRET MY ABORTION sign, well, I thought that I was ready
for it.
I wasn't. Not even close.
I consider myself fairly far along on the "healing" and
"public-appearances" scales. We stood, all 500 of us in the Silent No
More Awareness groups, in total silence as planned, for over five hours,
not replying or saying one word to anything that was said or done to us,
and I do mean anything.
But nothing prepared me for literally mobs of livid people screaming the
most hateful vicious snide things at me personally. We were spit on, and
had an egg hurled at us from the marchers. There were two groups of
Satanists. And the signs. Like the guy who held a handmade sign, "BABY
KILLER" with an arrow pointed downward at himself. If not for the riot
police, we would have been mobbed. There was that much viciousness.
People broke through the riot police's invisible line just to come up in
my face and hurl insulting words. There were not enough police to form a
complete line, so they would run up to me, shout out their abuse, and
run back before the policeman or woman got to stop him/her. And I said
nothing to anyone, just held my sign."(9)
She goes on to tell more about the counter-protest.
"The riot police, perhaps fifty in our area, in full battle gear, lined up on the march-side of the barricades, facing us, about 10-15 feet apart. Before the march, I said to the few of them standing right in front of me, “Thank you for being here. I know it’s your job so you have to be here, but thank you anyway. You won’t be getting any trouble from us.” One of the policemen nodded his head respectfully at me in silent acknowledgment and thanks....
I saw women read my sign and burst
out laughing and pointing at me, saying sarcastically, “Pooor baby!” I
saw men look me right in the eye after reading the sign as they shouted
out the chants that are the 30-year-old standards of the pro-abortion
movement, like “Pro-Life? That’s a lie! YOU don’t care if women die!”
and “Keep your rosaries off my ovaries!” Little did they know, how much
we do care and do help women to survive and have a better alternative to
abortion.
Others saw the sign and said to me, “Too bad!” The ones holding the
signs “Don’t Want An Abortion? DON’T HAVE ONE!” wove their way from the
opposite side of the crowd just to wave their sign in my face and taunt
me.
One woman, maybe about 30ish, started screaming at me, at the top of her
lungs, “I CHOSE!! AND I’M PROUD!” over and over and over again. The
others around her took up the chant, some verbatim, some saying instead,
“I CHOOSE!! AND I’M PROUD!!” The veins were popping out on her forehead
and neck, her face was beet red, and she was hunched over at the waist
as she shrieked out the words at high volume, glowering at me, for at
least five minutes straight. If there is a definition of “frothing at
the mouth,” that was this woman at that time.
Later, after reading my sign, one woman started a chant that about a
hundred marchers began screaming at me, “THAT WAS YOUR *CHOICE*!”
essentially telling me I had no right to be upset or to regret. They
stopped marching and stood right in front of me, all one-hundred of them
glaring directly at me, some not more than 2-3 feet away, jabbing
fingers at me in the air, their faces twisted and contorted with
contempt. I just looked from face to face, amazed at what I was seeing.
It was starting to get frightening. Not for my personal safety, but
their hatred was feeling as though it was reaching a fever pitch and
becoming toxic.
Can any of you pro-choicers stop for just a moment, and imagine nothing
but a flimsy piece of fence standing between you and 100 frenzied
people, not safely away on some wired blog, but there live and in
person, who are screaming their disgust and hatred for you? The riot
police were nowhere to be seen. They were off up the street and allowed
the marchers to pass by within inches of us at that spot in the very
start of the march.
After about two hours of the marchers being inches away from us, a woman
from our group I had not met came over to me and put her arm around me.
She said, “I just couldn’t listen to and watch you take more of that
abuse. I’m here to hold you up in prayer and stand by you.” Her name is
Gloria. I didn’t ask her her name until the march was over, but I
thought, How fitting a name for my "angel," for she was truly sent to me
when I needed her most! ...
I said [to the other pro-lifers] “It always turns out that the ones who are the most upset at us, the angriest ones, the ones who are so hateful, have so much to cover up, and this is how they do it. They are the post-abortive ones, even if they don’t say so. And they’re the ones who hit the wall the hardest when they do. I know, because I denied it for over 20 years…I know what happens when it all comes out.”...
You know how it all rushes through
you at once when you start weeping? Everything comes out. I cried
because, here were these thousands of people fighting for a right I wish
they’d never allowed me to have, instead of fighting for the daughters
and sons I and millions of others will never have. I felt they were
fighting for the death of my daughter, to deny me the right to grieve
her.
Then I realized I wasn’t crying so much for me as I was for them. I felt
they were fighting to hide their loss because to come to grips with it,
after being so fervently pro-choice, would bring upon them the same kind
of abuse I was getting. I felt so crushingly sad for them. The cold,
angry hearts, the screaming remorselessness, the relentless cruelty they
seemed capable of, toward me and toward another living human being,
their own flesh and blood. I realized that they don’t see those living
human beings as the gift they are, because if they did, the façade could
no longer justify their “choice.” Just as it one day stopped hiding the
truth of my choice.
I just wanted to reach out and hold them all...Openly weeping, as my
new/old-soul friends gathered around me, hands on my arms or shoulders,
my vision was so blurred I could no longer make eye contact with the
people in the crowd. I could only sense that something was changing.
People were still looking and pointing, but no longer laughing or
screaming at me. I didn’t care what they said or did to me anymore. I
didn't care if they laughed that I was crying out there in front of
thousands. I just couldn’t keep it in anymore. The looks that I did
catch had become subdued and stunned at the same time.
A young man of about 20 stopped as he was about to pass right in front
of me. He looked Chinese-American, and he just stared as I cried. I
looked in his eyes since he was right in front of me. Weeping, I pleaded
with him, “How can you be in this march supporting this? I lost a
daughter to this, and it is the worst thing I have ever done or will
ever do in my entire life, and I can never outlive this pain.” He looked
like he was going to cry. I asked him, “How old are you?” He quietly
replied, “22.” I could barely speak, but I told him, “My daughter would
have been 25, and she could have been your girlfriend…or maybe even your
future wife.”
I couldn’t speak after that, and neither could he. He just looked at me
with such pain in his eyes and touched my arm and said, “I am so sorry…”
as he reluctantly moved on slowly...
A woman dressed in pink with a
short-cropped haircut caught my eye from the crowd as I’d been crying.
She gazed at me, and called out, “I regret my abortion too!” But she was
part of the march. I didn’t understand what she really was trying to
say. She was still pro-choice, it seemed. Yet she locked eyes on mine,
and looked really sad for me. As the crowd moved her along, I just
looked at her, still teary-eyed, not knowing what to say back. I thought
she’d moved past, when suddenly she broke free and ran back, past the
riot cop, and threw her arms around my neck to hug me, to console me! I
was stunned, but I hugged her back and wept hard again, whispering to
her, “WHY are you out here in this? HOW can you still believe it’s OK??”
It was not a condemnation, it was an invitation, an honest incredulous
bewilderment on my part, and a sincere wish that she too would find
comfort for her pain forever, not just for this moment.
She didn’t say anything, because I could hear her start crying too. She
hugged me tight for what seemed like very long minutes. The whole crowd
beyond her stopped and stared. No one spoke or made a sound, or at least
that’s how it seemed to me. It’s as if everyone was just holding their
breath. It seemed like time stood still. And for us, it did. We just
cried on each other’s shoulders in the midst of all this madness and
hate. I still didn’t know quite what to think, but when she finally
pulled back, I thanked her, and we just looked at each other a moment,
feeling each other’s pain, but then she ran back into the crowd and
disappeared.
I didn’t have time to give her one of our cards about who to call to
begin seeking help and healing from this awful grief, and I am sorry for
that."(10)
The pro-life counter-protestors seemed to feel that if they had only reached one person, it was worth it. Perhaps despite the anger evident in the pro-choicers, some seeds were planted that day.
A few pictures from the March:
Footnotes
- Jo Freeman http://www.jofreeman.com/photos/MFWL.html#photos
- "Bill" INDC Protests March for Women's Lives Part 2. May 3, 2004. http://www.indcjournal.com/archives/000361.php
- Ibid.
- Ibid.
- John Lomperis "Oldline Churches Participate in Abortion March" May 20, 2004. http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Apostasy/churches_promote_abortion.htm
- Ibid.
- Michael F. Flach. "Editor's Deck: Descent into Hell" Catholic Herald 5/13/04
- Blog "After Abortion" http://afterabortion.blogspot.com/2004_04_25_afterabortion_archive.html#108304137944458162
- Ibid.
- Ibid.