Nikki Kahn Knight Ridder Tribune
Thousands march down Pennsylvania Avenue on Sunday in Washington D.C. during the
"March for Women's Lives," a pro-choice rally, in protest of legislative actions that pro
choicers argue could to lead to a reversal of Roe v. Wade. The American Civil Liberties Union
and Planned Parenthood worked with about 1,400 other organizations to put on the rally.
Thousands rally
for abortion rights
The March for Women’s
Lives united activists from
around the country Sunday
By Kristina Herrndobler
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
WASHINGTON — Abortion rights
activists turned out by the hundreds
'of thousands Sunday, packing the Na
tional Mall with a sea of pink signs
and a warning to the White House
that they will go to the polls in No
vember.
The American Civil Liberties
Union and Planned Parenthood,
along with about 1,400 other organi
zations, organized the March for
Women's Lives after a series of leg
islative setbacks that they say could
lead to a reversal of Roe v. Wade, the
1973 Supreme Court ruling that le
galized abortion nationwide.
Organizers claimed the march was
much larger than the 1992 March for
Women's Lives, which National Park
Police said drew about 500,000 ac
tivists to Washington. Although the
National Park Police no longer gives
official crowd counts, the Associated
Press quoted police sources as infor
mally estimating the number at
500,000 to 800,000.
Representatives from at least 56
countries joined American men and
women from across the nation at the
march, saying the Bush administra
tion's anti-abortion policies affect
women everywhere.
Speakers including actress Susan
Sarandon and former Secretary of
State Madeline Albright blamed the
White House's policies for the deaths
of thousands of women worldwide —
caused, they said, from its re-institu
tion of a ban on federal funding for
family-planning groups that provide
information about abortions or per
form them abroad.
Although the organizers said the
march was nonpartisan, thousands
wore "Kerry for President" stickers
and carried anti-Bush signs.
Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., urged
the crowd to help elect John Kerry
president. Recalling the election of her
husband, former president Bill Clin
ton, she noted that the last time such
a march was held, in 1992, "we elect
ed a pro-choice president, and this
year we must do the same."
Activists said the march was not just
about abortion but also about access
to health care, family planning and
justice.
Holding a wire hanger in front of
the crowd, actress Whoopi Goldberg
spoke about what she called a genera
tion of women under 30 who don't
understand the significance of the
hanger — sometimes the tool for ille
gal back-alley abortions before the
Supreme Court's ruling.
"This is what we used," Goldberg
said. "But never again will this be the
choice of anyone in our hemisphere,
in our world. Never again."
Francis Kissling, president of
Catholics for a Free Choice, said that
the overwhelmingly majority of
Catholic women in America support
a woman's right to chose.
"We will not put up with religious
leaders who tell women they don't
have the right to control their own
destiny," Kissling said. "Not the
church, not the state — women will
control their own fate."
Michelle Williams of Wilmette, 111.,
met up with her mother, Lenore Zake
of Palm Beach, Fla., at the march. The
women, in homemade "Freedom"
shirts, attended an ACLU-sponsored
breakfast for Illinois activists Sunday
morning. Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill.,
received a standing ovation after she
Turn to RALLY, page 6A
EUGENE
HARDWARE
• Hardware
• Electrical
• Plumbing
• Paint
• Housewares
• Lawn & Garden
• Tools
342-5191
2825 Willamette
Eugene, Oregon
BEAN BASKETBALL COURTS
Email to register: pitcrew1@gladstone.uoregon.edu
OREGOn
* $10 deposit required *