Life Comes To Washington

Life Comes To Washington

Washington, DC

In the aftermath of the Inauguration, in fact the very next day a wonderful blessing took over the city of Washington and the National Mall.

Beginning with a massive rally at the Verizon Center, the March for Life made its presence known.

A local Police Officer attending the new crowd said `they couldn’t be more different. It is a joy to watch over this group.

With estimates up to 150,000 and a march that went over a half mile long the March For life took over downtown Washington with a cheerful, upbeat group.

They came in all sizes, shapes and groups. Priests and nuns, kids from just about everywhere, babies that had been saved from abortion, the March for Life memorialized the 36th anniversary of the passing of the life altering passage of Roe vs. Wade.

As if to personally insult the group within hours of the end of the march, one of the first executive orders of the new administration was to roll back the anti-abortion provisions that had been in place for the past eight years.

`We are very concerned that all the accomplishments of the past years will be overturned` said one participant `we face a new administration that is hostile to life`.

Within hours, she was proved right.

Nonetheless, with signs like `We Choose Life`, `I Love Babies` and `Stop Abortion Now` the joyful crowd assembled at noon on the National Mall on the same site that hours earlier proponents of limitless abortion had gathered for the inauguration.

The irony was not lost on the many that interacted with the group from hotel staff to police officers who all commented on the dramatic difference between the crowd that had assembled for the inauguration the day before and the March For Life Participants.

In a show of cross denominational cooperation Catholic, Protestant and just about every denomination in the middle gathered around the single theme of protecting life.

`In a sense it is good that for the first time in a long while we face a Washington that now wants to restore Abortion. It forces us to work harder to protect life` commented one participant.

Abortion Rights and Homosexual rights were two of the rallying cries of the election and one group – the pro-life organizations has a new battle ahead.

The swiftness with which – on the very second day of the new administration – restrictions on Abortion were removed surprised many, but the old-timers in the movement had seen it before.

The battle ahead may be hard with a new administration and Congress hostile to the pro-life movement, but for just one day, Life took over the National Mall and downtown Washington DC, culminating in a rally in front of the Supreme Court where so many years ago Life had been dealt a near fatal blow.

The concern on many faces as the rally wound down was how different the situation would be a year from now when they meet again.

Ken Joseph. Jr.

www.kenjoseph.com