The march of anti-abortion activists in Washington, on January 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
PA
Anti-abortion activists will have plenty of reasons to celebrate — and some reasons to fret — when they gather in Washington on Friday for the annual March for Life.
The march has been taking place since January 1974, the year after the Supreme Court ratified the Roe vs. Wade that effectively legalized the right to abortion throughout the country.
This year’s march will be the first since the court overturned the ruling in June 2022.
Since then, 12 Republican-ruled states have implemented sweeping abortion bans, and others plan to do the same. But those efforts have been countered by others: Anti-abortion activists have been defeated in referendums in Kansas, Michigan and Kentucky, and several state courts have blocked the implementation of abortion bans. At the same time, campaigns have sprung up to help women in states where termination of pregnancy is prohibited, either by taking them to other states for an abortion or by giving them access to pills that terminate their pregnancy.
“It’s almost like the Old West … everything is fluctuating,” said Carol Tobias, president of the National Right to Life Committee.
At a time when various Democratic-run states are taking steps to protect and expand access to abortion, Tobias compared the current situation to the pre-Civil War era, when the country was divided between states that allowed slavery and those that they opposed
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we have that kind of situation for a few years,” Tobias said. “But I am sure that the pro-life activists will not budge. For us it’s a civil rights issue.”
The theme of this year’s march is “Next Steps: Marching Into the Future in a Post-Roe America.” Speakers will include football coach Tony Dungy and Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who won the Supreme Court case that overturned Roe.
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This story was originally published on January 18, 2023 1:56 p.m.
Source: El Nuevo Herald
