ST. PAUL, Minn. – Thousands of abortion opponents massed outside Minnesota’s Capitol on Sunday to protest the 33rd anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision and call for a ban on public funding of abortion.
“We must stop abortion in our state,” Scott Fischbach, head of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, told the crowd. “Things are changing in this country.”
Dueling protests across the country marked Sunday’s anniversary of the Supreme Court decision.
Many abortion opponents said they were heartened by President Bush’s choice of Judge Samuel Alito to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, a moderate who was often the court’s swing vote. Alito’s refusal during his confirmation hearings to agree with assertions by Democrats that Roe vs. Wade was “settled law” upset abortion rights activists.
About 200 gathered Sunday outside the Idaho Capitol in support of abortion rights. Nearly twice that number marched at the Statehouse on Saturday to protest abortion.
In Michigan, a group pastors and ministry leaders used the anniversary Sunday to launch a new anti-abortion organization, Michigan Chooses Life.
In San Francisco, thousands of abortion opponents shouldering signs with slogans such as “Peace Begins in the Womb” marched Saturday, while abortion rights supporters along the march route waved clothes hangers and shouted “Bigots go home.”
“It’s a crucial time,” said abortion rights supporter Carol Norris, 43, in San Francisco. “We have Alito poised to be on the Supreme Court, and he’s clearly an anti-choice person.”
On the other side, college student Laura Arnold, 20, of Pleasanton, Calif., marched with her mother opposing abortion, saying: “We’re here to stand up for the babies that don’t have a voice.”
The largest abortion demonstration was expected today in Washington, D.C., where anti-abortion activists planned march on the Congress and Supreme Court.
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