WASHINGTON (CNS): President Barack Obama and his vocal support of abortion came under fire from members of Congress, clergy and pro-life activists during the opening rally of the 36th annual March for Life.
For nearly two hours on January 22, a crowd estimated at 100,000 listened to three dozen speakers pledge to fight efforts to expand the availability of abortion and to oppose any increases in federal funding for agencies that perform abortions.
The crowd’s disdain for Obama’s views on abortion offered a sharp contrast to the exuberance that nearly 2 million people showered on the 44th president at his inauguration on the very same grounds 48 hours earlier.
Speakers took an almost defiant stand against the new president in pledging to reverse the 1970s era Supreme Court decisions of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton that recognized abortion as a constitutional right and overturned state laws against abortion.
Rarely mentioning Obama by name and referring to him repeatedly as “Mr. President,” Nellie Gray, president of the March for Life Fund which annually sponsors the march, invited the nation’s first African-American leader to discuss “important changes” in his stance “and we want to discuss that today.”
To become a president of all people, as he has pledged, Gray urged the president to take steps to end legal abortion during his presidency.
“Mr. President, you are a great orator, and we appreciate the great words … but you must also be a great doer of the deeds to overturn the illicit Roe v. Wade and fulfill your responsibility to make right and proper changes as president of the United States and president of all the people,” she said.
Obama issued a statement January 22 saying the Roe decision stands for the broad principle that “government should not intrude on our most private family matters.”
The president reiterated his position that he is “committed to protecting a women’s right to choose” and called for both sides to work toward common ground to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make.
Near the rally’s end Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia introduced to loud applause 23 Catholic prelates representing both the Latin and Eastern rites, including Cardinal Sean O’Malley of Boston and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington.
