Twenty-five years after the Supreme Court recognized a constitutional right to abortion, tens of thousands of abortion opponents marched to the court Thursday in somber protest while abortion rights advocates pledged to fight any rollback.
The competing commemorations of the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision displayed the sharp public schism on the issue.
Appearing before the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, Vice President Al Gore appealed almost wistfully for the two sides to make common cause on sex
education, abstinence education and family planning to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies.
Gore acknowledged that “the passions that surround this issue are such that the efforts to find common ground are not going to immediately bear fruit.” He also spoke out firmly in support of “a woman’s right to make what for many feels like the most important decision of their lives in freedom, in safety and without the coercion of government.”
On the national Mall, opponents of abortion far outnumbered those who had turned out at events in support of abortion rights.
Men, women and children assembled by the thousands carrying placards proclaiming “Stop All Abortions” and “Emancipate the Unborn” or pronouncing Roe vs. Wade “not a solution then, still a tragedy today.”
“We’re not going away until we stop the abortions,” said Nellie Gray, president of the group that sponsors the annual anti-abortion march to the Supreme Court, at a rally near the White House.
As the throng marched, Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) called the number of abortions “a holocaust of staggering proportions.”
Across the city, at a luncheon celebrating the Roe decision, Kate Michelman, president of the abortion and reproductive rights group, called a woman’s freedom to make choices about reproduction and abortion “the very essence of womanhood.”
“Who we are is our freedom to choose what we believe is right,” Michelman said. “How can we women ever hope to take an equal place in this great nation if we aren’t given that respect?”
The day’s events came when the public attitude toward abortion has been shifting away from general acceptance of legal abortion and toward a more nuanced conditional attitude.
A recent New York Times/CBS News Poll found that the American public still largely supported legalized abortion but said it should be harder to get and less readily chosen.
The issue is expected to be fought on several fronts in Congress this year. Republicans are seeking to override President Clinton’s veto of a bill prohibiting late-term abortions.
Conservatives also are mounting a campaign against Dr. David Satcher as surgeon general partly because of his support for the president’s veto.
The National Right to Life Committee also announced Thursday that it would support a new bill in Congress that would make it a federal offense to transport a minor across a state line for an abortion if the transport circumvents a state law requiring notification of or consent by a parent.
Other political figures also added their voices Thursday.
Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.), who has talked of running for president, was greeted by chants of “2000! 2000!” when he joined Missouri abortion opponents.
He held up an ultrasound image of the fetus his daughter is carrying and said, “Science and the truth have merged.
“These are children, and they experience pain, and it is a horrible thing to do,” the senator said.
Gore announced that Clinton would propose a $15 million increase in federal family planning funds in his new budget proposal to make abortion less necessary.
“Let us appeal to the common sense of the American people from all political persuasions,” he said. “Let us pound home the point that the single most effective way to reduce the number of abortions is to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies.”
Outside in the street, it was a day of high emotion.
On one corner, young men with “Stop Abortion Now” signs confronted counter demonstrators holding a banner that read “If you don’t like abortions, then don’t have one.”
“I’m going to do what I can to stop Nazis,” a man shouted at the anti-abortion group. “You’re Klan, Klan, Klan.”
“Folks, folks, folks, make peace,” said a police officer who ordered the groups to separate.
