WASHINGTON-Progressive religious groups are hoping for a literal and figurative change in direction during this year’s March for Life, saying it should end not at the Supreme Court but across the street at Congress.
For the last 35 years, thousands anti-abortion activists have gathered here on Jan. 22 to mark and protest Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that decriminalized abortion.
The march traditionally concludes outside the high court, where marchers pray for the justices to overturn the decision, said Nellie Gray, president of March for Life.
This year, progressive Catholics will be encouraging marchers to continue on to the Capitol, where they will hold a briefing on legislative efforts to reduce abortions, rather than ban them outright.
James Salt, an organizer with the group Catholics United, said that after 35 years of failed legal challenges to Roe v. Wade, activists should turn to pragmatic, “results-driven” solutions.
“We support legal protections for the unborn,” Salt said, “but focusing solely on that strategy has limited our effectiveness.”
A redirection of the March for Life may herald a generational shift in the anti-abortion movement, as activists like Salt, 32, take the reigns from those like Gray, the 84-year-old matriarch of the march.
Progressives say the political and demographic winds are favorable for their new approach. More than 80 percent of young Catholics and evangelicals support a “common ground” approach to abortion by reducing unintended pregnancies, expanding adoptions, and increasing economic aid to pregnant mothers, according to a recent poll by the ecumenical group Faith in Public Life.
Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., introduced a bill Tuesday (Jan. 13) designed to reduce unintended pregnancies, in part through increased funding for Planned Parenthood. Sen. Robert Casey, D-Pa., plans to introduce his own bill soon that may gain more support from religious conservatives because it will not encourage the use of contraceptives, Salt said, which the Catholic Church opposes. Salt said his group is “solely focused” on Casey’s bill.
During his campaign, President-elect Barack Obama said people who disagree on abortion should come together to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies. Obama has also voiced support, however, for a bill introduced in the last Congress that would have eliminated all restrictions on abortion, and is anathema to anti-abortion activists.
Salt and about 25 others will be marching with a banner that reads “Congress Reduce Abortion Now,” and handing flyers to fellow marchers inviting them to the Capitol. Nicholas Cafardi, a prominent Catholic legal scholar who endorsed Obama and supports the new approach to ending abortion, is one of the scheduled speakers.
Meanwhile, the Washington-based Faith in Public Life plans to run ads in local newspapers and on a Christian radio station calling for “results, not rhetoric.”
They’re targeting “people who care about this issue but may not have been exposed to this approach,” said Kristin Williams, a spokeswoman for the group.
“It’s time to stop the political posturing and get serious about protecting life,” the radio ad says. ” Thankfully, some lawmakers are already working on real solutions that will drastically reduce abortions by expanding programs that encourage adoption, increasing pre- and post-natal healthcare, preventing unintended pregnancies, and helping young mothers choose life.”
Gray said that anti-abortion activists have brought roses and annual reports to their lawmakers during past marches, but after Sept. 11, 2001, security at the Capitol became too tight.
“Prayers to support pregnant mothers are all right,” Gray said, “but that doesn’t stop the crime of killing innocent, unborn human beings.”
KRE/DEA END BURKE
