Anti-abortion activists march in Washington, buoyed by waning U.S. abortion access

[January 21, 2022]  By Gabriella Borter

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Anti-abortion advocates will take to the streets of Washington on Friday for the annual "March for Life," their mood boosted by recent state abortion restrictions and the possibility that the U.S. Supreme Court could soon upend long-held abortion rights.

The march marks the 49th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that established a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy before the fetus is viable, at around 24 weeks.

The activists marching are optimistic this will be the event's last year with Roe v. Wade as the law of the land.

In December, the Supreme Court signaled its openness to overturning Roe during arguments for a case out of Mississippi. The conservative justices, like Samuel Alito and Brett Kavanaugh, indicated sympathy for Mississippi's 15-week abortion ban, which violates Roe's precedent.

If the conservative-leaning court rules in Mississippi's favor, it could overhaul abortion rights protected in the United States for nearly half a century. A ruling is expected by the end of June.

Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, the national anti-abortion group organizing Friday's event, said activists are hopeful "this year will bring us much closer to building the culture of life we have all marched for since Roe v. Wade was imposed on our nation nearly 50 years ago."
 

Abortion has long been a politically divisive issue in the United States, with abortion opponents concerned about preserving life from conception and abortion rights advocates standing for a woman's bodily autonomy.

In recent years, Republican-controlled states have advanced legislation and policies making it harder for women to get an abortion. The Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights organization, found that 2021 saw the most restrictions of U.S. abortion rights in decades, with 108 abortion restrictions enacted in 19 states as of Dec. 31.

Anti-abortion and pro-abortion rights activists protest outside the Supreme Court building, ahead of arguments in the Mississippi abortion rights case Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health, in Washington, U.S., December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo

Liberate Abortion, a national coalition of more than 100 abortion rights advocacy groups, was not planning any in-person counterprotest at the March for Life because of the recent spike in COVID-19 cases, coalition campaign director Sharmin Hossain said. The coalition instead will hold a series of virtual events to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade this week.

"I think it's ironic that they call themselves March for Life because they ideologically do not support people living their best lives, lives filled without shame and stigma," she said, adding that mobilizing large unmasked gatherings disregards public safety.

The anti-abortion movement also is celebrating a Texas law that banned abortion after six weeks and empowered private citizens to sue anyone who assists someone getting an abortion past that gestational limit. The Supreme Court has allowed that law, which took effect in September, to stand as it's challenged in lower courts.

Mark Lee Dickson, director of anti-abortion group Right to Life of East Texas, said he will attend the March for Life in Washington for the first time, inspired by the large crowds of anti-abortion protesters who gathered outside the Supreme Court for the oral arguments in the Mississippi case.

"There may not be another March for Life with Roe on the books, so I want to be a part of this," he said.

(Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Aurora Ellis)

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