SAN FRANSICO, January 24, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In addition to the hundreds of thousands expected to attend the National March for Life in Washington DC today, dozens of pro-life demonstrations took place around the country over the last few days marking the Roe v Wade 32nd anniversary.
In San Fransisco nearly eight thousand people walked along the waterfront in a March for Life.
The rally and walk were held in the face of virulent opposition from the city’s elected officials, after the San Francisco board of supervisors condemned the Walk in a resolution and a news release issued in conjunction with Planned Parenthood and NARAL Pro-Choice California. “The anti-choice minority might be emboldened by the climate in Washington, D.C. but they are not welcome here!” said statements issued by a coalition of abortion- rights groups. However, the Walk was organized by a group of San Francisco women. More than 1,000 abortion-rights counter protestors lined the Walk route and chanted and shouted at the Walk participants. Rev. Clenard Childress, an African-American leader of Life Education and Resource Network, chided the board of supervisors and called upon the walkers to continue the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr.
“This parallels the same language of the people who were supporters of the Jim Crow laws,” Childress said in response to the S.F. board of supervisors’ resolution saying the Walk was unwelcome in the city. “It is that same spirit of oppression which has mutated and has now hit children in the womb.”
Georgette Forney, president of Silent No More Awareness Campaign, told the crowd she had an abortion and regretted it. Standing with women who held signs saying “We Regret Our Abortion,” Forney said: “The San Francisco board of supervisors should be ashamed of themselves for proclaiming this a pro-choice city. If the supervisors really cared about women they would provide pregnancy centers and provide real choices for women. Our experience is that abortion is not good for women. Abortion hurts women!”