Posted on 01/23/2010 12:35:42 PM PST by Elvina
WASHINGTON – Organizers say some 300,000 people, mostly young, walked under overcast skies Friday to stand up for the preborn at the annual March for Life.
They were joined by another 78,000 virtual pro-lifers, including former Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who marched with them online in the first-ever Virtual March for Life.
"Affirming the dignity and worth of every innocent human life and defending the defenseless are fundamental American values," Palin wrote Thursday in her Facebook page. "With that in mind, this peaceful, hopeful grassroots crowd of individuals, families and students comes to our capital every year to remind us that every innocent life is beautiful, precious and full of potential.
"Though I can’t be in Washington tomorrow, my heart is with the marchers."
Since the first March for Life in 1974, a year after the Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion, the number of marchers has swelled from 20,000 to over a quarter million in recent years. While pro-lifers have continued to create a massive presence in the nation's capital – and now on the Web as well – some say the media has been playing down or ignoring the march altogether.
American Life League Communications Director Katie Walker, 23, says the media typically counts the March for Life crowd as "thousands" when in reality, hundreds of thousands from across the country are amassed.
Steve Sanborn, a development and public relations professional, grew weary of the inaccurate or lack of coverage. So he brought a crew together, including documentary film producer Jack Cashill ("The Holocaust Through Our Own Eyes") and set up cameras on rooftops to record and show the true numbers of March for Life participants.
"Thine Eyes: A Witness to the March or Life" – derived from Psalm 139:16 – is the first high-end documentary on the March for Life. It follows groups of college and high school students from Atchison, Kan., St. Louis, and Birmingham, Ala., who load buses to travel to the 2009 March for Life. Cameras on the ground show a diverse crowd who have traveled hundreds or thousands of miles to march one mile in Washington – all united for the purpose of protecting the preborn.
One 19-year-old student in the film expresses his dismay that Americans are pushing for laws to protect animals, plants and the environment yet are allowing a human life to be killed. And what makes the fight to end abortion even more challenging is that the group of persons (preborn) who are being disrespected and killed are not able to do anything about it, he adds.
"Thine Eyes" refutes the media's reporting of not only the number of marchers but also their portrayals of marchers as angry and old. The film reveals that the majority of March for Life participants are under 25 years of age and not violent.
"A lot of times it's surprising for people seeing the number of people for the first time who are all united," one young female student in the film says. "For a first-timer that's someone that may grow in their zeal for the movement just by seeing the sheer number of people there, being able to observe it and take it all in and really see for themselves how many people in America are pro-life and that pro-lifers aren't just the weirdo person you see walking down the hall at school or some radical who's not likable at all."
She adds, "There's no stereotype for someone who's pro-life. It's just people who love life."
Also featured in the documentary is actress Jennifer O'Neill, who had an abortion in the 1970s after the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court.
"In those days abortion just became legal and we were told that our babies before three months gestation were just a blob of tissue, a cluster of cells, a nobody, a nothing," O'Neill recalls. "That's not the truth. With the advent of the ultrasound machine we can see the humanity of our babies right off.
"And God says in His word, who to me is the ultimate authority, that He knows each and every one of us as He knits us together in our mother's womb. God doesn't make mistakes."
March for Life is held every year on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. With the anniversary falling on a weekend in 2011 and 2012, organizers have moved the march to the Monday after the Jan. 23 anniversary to give marchers the opportunity to visit with their Congressional delegates and press their pro-life message.
May God bless everyone who marched yesterday. Keep the momentum going throughout the year!
When the Iron Curtain fell the first sites taken were the TV and radio stations. So?...What should the Pro-Lifers be doing?
They should be marching in **NEW YORK** in front of the doors of CNN, ABC, and MSNBC! There should be a half million people standing in the driveways of the houses where the CEOs live!
Finally,...The Pro-life people need to **WIN** elections! That means:
**Doing the grunt work of purging fraudulent registrations from the voter roles and vigorously pursuing legal action against voting fraud. Put those half million marchers to work doing this!
** Manning the polls on election day and guarding and accounting for every vote. Put those half million marchers to work doing this!
** Getting every Republican to the polls to vote Put those half million marchers to work doing this!
Good post.
Good post.
Your tagline is "never, never, never quit".
Ironic contradiction?
They are doing all of those things too. It is NOT either/or it is both/and. We can do both!
There should be a half million people standing in the driveways of the houses where the CEOs live!
That sounds like what SEIU would do.
The Parable of the Persistent Widow Luke 18: 1-8
Then he told them a parable about the necessity for them to pray always without becoming weary. He said, "There was a judge in a certain town who neither feared God nor respected any human being. And a widow in that town used to come to him and say, 'Render a just decision for me against my adversary.' For a long time the judge was unwilling, but eventually he thought, 'While it is true that I neither fear God nor respect any human being, because this widow keeps bothering me I shall deliver a just decision for her lest she finally come and strike me.'"
The Lord said, "Pay attention to what the dishonest judge says. Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them? I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily. But when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"
You praise the “try something different” opinion.
Your tagline is “never, never, never quit”.
Ironic contradiction?
____________________________
I wouldn’t give up the march for life. It’s the most effective thing the pro-life movement has going for it. I do like his ideas though in terms of political activity . . .
No one hear is even remotely suggesting “giving up”!
However...Isn't it evident that year after year the Pro-life marches are nearly completely ignored by the media? ( Is a “duh” necessary?)
I am suggesting a redirection of these marches. March on **NEW YORK CITY** and put a half million people on the doorstep of CNN, ABC, NBC, MSNBC, and CBS. That would be hard for them to ignore. Put a half million very polite and quiet people in front of the driveways of their CEOs. See how well they could cope with their silent stares.
Also...If a half million people had showed up before and during the voting in Minnesota, maybe, just maybe, Al Franken(stein) would not be an abortion pushing Senator with a seat in the U.S. Senate.
I always enjoy a discussion of tactics. Anytime you want to post a link to folks who are doing effective, innovative, creative, politically smart stuff for the prolife cause --- people or organizations who need our support --- please do so, and keep me on your ping list!
Or if you're organizing some of these initiatives yourself: let us know and I will do my part in publicizing it.
I personally think the annual march is effective in myriad ways. Some prolife folks feel small and isolated in their local community, and when they go to a rally with 200,000 people singing, swinging, and surging through the streets, they get pumped up and enthused about doing a lot MORE stuff, from A to Z.
In other words: the March isn't their end. It's their beginning. In fact, different activist groups use the annual March to recruit. It's a splendid organizing tool for that purpose. I've done it myself.
Well said, FRiend!
I know the 40 Marchers from our Church are active in the Pro-Life Movement 365 days a year.We even manage to get fairly good press from our local Newhouse newspaper.
Do you think they might get just as pumped up if they were marching to the doorsteps of ABC, MSNBC, CNN, and CBS? It might be more effective too in getting it covered by the media.
It is discouraging that year after year, millions show up in Washington and the event is essentially **ignored**!
If the media had a half million people on their doorstep, now that would be hard for them to overlook.
How many times do I need to post that I DO DO DO DO DO support the March for Life!!!!!
I simply think the march would be far more effective if the venue was changed to NEW YORK CITY and the headquarters of the major networks were made the focal point of their efforts!
When we came home from the March we watched tha EXCELLENT coverage on EWTN.
Hey, it’s worth a try. I wonder if Randall Terry and/or Pat Mahoney would be interested in organizing a more media-savvy demonstration?.
Isn’t the point of the March to go to the Supreme Court, where the ruling was made, and to demonstrate where the politicians work? The political, ‘scuse me, “news” arms and studios of the networks and cable news channels are in DC very close to the Mall and Capitol.
They see the crowds! They choose not to share the info with their viewers, as “unsuitable.” They would just as easily ignore them in Manhattan.
Cspan put the program on cspan 3. I wonder how many households even have access to that channel?
No offense, but perhaps the silliest thing I see on FR is the assumption that street Freepers annd other protestors don’t do much else to accomplish conservative goals. Quite the contrary.
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