Pro-Life Activists Make Stand at Abortion March
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
April 27, 2004

While several hundred thousand pro-abortion demonstrators marched in Washington, DC on Sunday, a small band of their opponents lined the Pennsylvania Avenue route. About 1,000 activists from across the country participated in the event organized by Randall Terry, leader of the Society for Truth and Justice.

Terry responded to a question about his group's meager size compared to the throng of pro-abortion marchers, saying, "Our purpose was not to match them in numbers, but to not allow them to have a free pass with the press."

He added, "Many of those who oppose abortion are going about their daily lives, with the families they have created."

The rally was the final event in the three-day "Operation Witness" project. On Friday and Saturday, pro-life speakers addressed participants and event coordinators offered training for Sunday's activities and future rallies. Some activists demonstrated in front of three Washington, DC abortion clinics on Saturday morning.

Archbishop Randolph W. Sly of the International Charismatic Episcopal Church conducted a brief service in Freedom Plaza at the start of Sunday's event. Sly also officiated a spontaneous baptism. Vanessa Cotter, a single mother from Long Island, NY who brought her 10-month-old daughter Elena to the march decided that the pro-life demonstration would be an appropriate place for her child to receive baptism.

Cotter told Talon News, "I never considered abortion. Even though I was going to have Elena alone and there was a chance she might have Down's syndrome, I couldn't even think about ending the life inside me."

As the pro-abortion march began, Terry observed, "This is a death march ... thousands are marching for lies."

He discounted the large number of participants saying, "Hitler had big crowds in 1935, but it didn't help him in 1945."

Terry said that his group was there to witness about the facts of abortion.

He said, "Truth has inside it the seeds of its own victory, while lies have within them the seeds of their own destruction."

Several groups participated in the anti-abortion rally.

Michael Sciscenti, of the American Collegians for Life, told Talon News, "Women deserve better than abortion. We need to work to eliminate the root cause of abortion."

Rev. Clenard Childress, acting National Director of Learn Life Education and Resource Network, the largest African-American pro-life organization, spoke to Talon News about his group's focus.

He pointed out, "The abortion industry targets minorities. African-Americans are 12% of the U. S. population, but get 37% of the abortions performed in this country."

Childress also noted that there were few black faces among the pro-abortion marchers. He said that minorities are not given complete information about pregnancy. For example, Childress said that abortionists hide the facts that an unborn child has a heartbeat 21 days after conception, brainwaves at 37 days and that it will suck its thumb at 51 days.

His group's Genocide Awareness Project provided enlarged photographs that were graphic reminders of the consequences of abortion.

The anti-abortion rally spanned the sidewalks on both sides of an eight-block stretch. Participants were grouped according to their pro-life experience. Several groupings included children, some of whom carried signs that read, "We survived Roe, but Roe won't survive us."

Father Dayton Reynolds stood along the route blessing marchers and making the sign of the Cross. A few of the abortion supporters graciously accepted the blessing dispensed, but many marchers reacted negatively to the presence of the clergyman.

Over 100 times the Episcopal priest was called "child molester" or "pedophile." Many shouted obscenities at Reynolds, who responded with cheerful reverence. "God Bless you," he would call after women who gestured at him with their middle finger.

A small group of women from a group called Queer Choice stood in front of Reynolds screaming slogans and grabbing their crotches. One of their chants was "Keep your rosaries off our ovaries."

A large lesbian contingent was evident among the abortion rights marchers. Many held hands, kissed, and one couple mockingly asked Reynolds to perform a marriage ceremony for them. Bizarre hair colors and various piercings were in abundance.

Kristinn Taylor, of Free Republic, who was standing near Reynolds told Talon News, "The ugliness that I witnessed in the way the clergy was treated is the real face of the Democratic party today."

He added, "These people would vote for John Kerry and pull the lever for Hillary Clinton."

It was clearly a pro-Kerry, anti-Bush event. Many "Kerry for President" signs were carried down Pennsylvania Avenue, but a majority of the political placards were aimed at President Bush.

Despite the aggressive confrontation tactics of the marchers, Terry maintained, "We're not angry with them, instead we're calling them to join us in the stand for life."