Thousands rally on US abortion law anniversary
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Thousands of anti-abortion activists rallied in Washington Tuesday to mark the 35th anniversary of the Supreme Court's landmark decision that legalized the procedure in the United States.
Throngs of protesters, many of them young, sang the US national anthem as a wintry drizzle swept the National Mall where they had assembled for the annual "March for Life," on the anniversary of the "Roe versus Wade" abortion ruling.
A recorded message from US President George W. Bush blared across the Mall before the rally set out for the Supreme Court -- where women's rights groups were due to stage a counter-rally in the late afternoon.
"You're here because you know that all life deserves to be protected. And as you begin your march, I'm proud to be standing with you," Bush said in his message to the anti-abortion marchers.
"The most recent data report that more than one in five pregnancies end in an abortion," the president said. "America is better than this, so we will continue to work for a culture of life."
Women's rights groups were due to hold a pro-choice rally -- defending women's right to choose abortion -- outside the Supreme Court.
The demonstrations marked the 35th anniversary of the high court's decision on January 22, 1973, that a state law in Texas banning abortion except to save a woman's life, was unconstitutional.
The decision, named Roe versus Wade after the key figures in the case, gave the United States some of the least restrictive abortion laws in the world but also galvanized conservative religious groups against it.
The pro-choice rally at the Supreme Court was organized by the National Organization for Women (NOW).
It vowed Tuesday to prevent America lapsing back "to the days when women suffered from health complications after giving birth to 10, 12, or 15 children ... Or died from illegal abortions in back alleys or dirty motel rooms, or were left injured and infertile after botched illegal abortions."
"Now, more than ever, we have to fight to keep Roe alive," said NOW president Kim Gandy, citing decades of challenges from anti-abortion groups and recent "roadblocks" aimed at getting the Supreme Court to reverse the decision.
In April, the Supreme Court upheld a ban on a controversial late-term termination procedure.
In 2006, South Dakota lawmakers made it a felony for doctors to perform abortions except to save a woman's life, but the law was reversed by voters.
Around a quarter of Americans have consistently backed on-demand abortion, a quarter have called for a ban, and half have said abortion should be legal but restricted.
The debate has been part of US politics since Roe versus Wade, and in a presidential election year it is high on the political agenda.
Before the anti-abortion march, Norma McCorvey -- who took the pseudonym "Jane Roe" in the case -- announced her support for Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul since he favors overturning Roe versus Wade.
She said she became a pro-life activist decades after the case was brought in 1970 on her behalf by two women lawyers seeking the right for the then homeless, 22-year-old single mother to terminate her third pregnancy.
"It was 1995, and I was working at an abortion clinic in Dallas," McCorvey told reporters.
"I looked outside and I saw two small children who were playing with dolls, and it just warmed my heart. They asked me to go to church with them. About two months later, I accepted the Lord," said McCorvey, who now heads a Christian ministry.
Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, called Roe versus Wade "a great American tragedy that has led to the loss of millions of innocent lives."
Members of the Democratic party, including the leading contenders for the presidential nomination, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, spoke out strongly in favor of women's right to choose an abortion.
Clinton, who was recently endorsed by the pro-choice group WCLA-Choice Matters, hailed Roe v Wade as "the touchstone of our reproductive freedom" and vowed that "no one -- no judge, no governor, no senator, no president -- has the right to take it away."
Obama said, citing the political climate in Washington: "It's never been more important to protect a woman's right to choose."
