For the 49th time, thousands of anti-abortion protesters on Friday gathered in Washington, D.C.
They were participating in the annual March for Life, which opposes Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court ruling that effectively established abortion rights nationwide. But many of the activists and elected officials in attendance said they hope this year’s March for Life will be the last with Roe in place.
The Supreme Court in December heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Center, a case over a Mississippi law that bans elective abortion procedures after 15 weeks. The case is a direct challenge to Roe, and some legal scholars speculate the court may reconsider or scale back the abortion precedent in its decision. It’s a possibility some participants in Friday’s event appeared eager for — some adapted signs carried in previous events describing themselves as the “pro-life generation” to the “post-Roe generation.”
Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, told the Washington Examiner “it’s exciting” to have the march back in person after going virtual last year as they prepare for “a very special year.”
“The enthusiasm of the pro-life movement is palpable,” Mancini said.
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Mancini called Roe “judicial activism“ and that “it’s time to correct this.”
The court’s decision in the Dobbs case is expected in June, just a few months before November’s midterm elections, making abortion a likely topic on the campaign trail regardless of whether the court leaves Roe in place.
“I would welcome that,” Rep. Chip Roy told the Washington Examiner about abortion factoring into the midterm elections this fall. “We are on the winning side of history.”
The Texas Republican cited his own 2020 victory in Texas’s 21st Congressional District over former state Sen. Wendy Davis, who famously filibustered in favor of abortion rights in the state Legislature, as evidence an anti-abortion platform is a winning message.
“If they want to make the issue about abortion, I’m happy to be on the side of life,” Roy said.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a group that works to elect candidates who oppose abortion, told the Washington Examiner that either way the court rules, “we have to do well in the midterms or there’s a real serious threat the issue could get buried.”
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“We’re in the process of speaking directly to governors, state legislators, candidates running for federal office,” Dannenfelser said, adding her organization is encouraging them to prepare to legislate “ambitiously.”
The court’s decision would likely animate activists on both sides ahead of Election Day. Some of those tensions were visible the evening before the march when abortion-rights group Catholics for Choice projected slogans in light on Washington’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Catholic church in North America, and some participants held an all-night prayer vigil inside. In a statement, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory condemned the “antics” of the light display.
But despite these tensions, activists at the march argued their cause had more broad support from voters.
Patrick Kelly, who leads the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal service organization, told the Washington Examiner a new Marist Poll sponsored by his organization this week found 71% of voters support some form of legal limits on abortion.
“This is the 14th year we’ve done that poll, and what we’ve found is there’s a majority who believe there should be real legal limits,” Kelly said.
Kelly said 60% of the respondents in this year’s poll said states should determine abortion law rather than the Supreme Court.
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“When you break down the questions, Americans are pro-life,” he argued.
A CNN poll released Friday found that a majority of Americans say they do not want the Supreme Court to overturn Roe.
