'Roe v. Wade' turns 42; thousands march in opposition

Anti-abortion protesters march in Washington The annual March for Life drew thousands who marched to the Supreme Court to protest abortion. The march was held up when pro-abortion demonstrators blocked the street in front the court and were arrested and taken away by police.

WASHINGTON — Thousands rallied on the National Mall against the Roe v. Wade ruling that established a woman's right to an abortion across the USA. The annual March for Life, which coincides with the ruling's anniversary Thursday, marked the 42nd year since the Supreme Court decision, which said a woman's right to privacy under the due process clause of the Constitution's 14th Amendment extended to abortion rights.

After a brief rally at the Washington Monument, the crowd filled Constitution Avenue, stretching for several blocks as people headed for Capitol Hill.

Holding a placard reading, "Women need love, not abortion," Erin Quinn, 15, from Kansas City said she came to the march "because I believe that any person should have a chance to live."

The crowd roared when Julia Johnson, a senior from Shanley High School, a Catholic school in Fargo, N.D., stepped to the podium. Administrators shuttered the school this week, so all of its students could attend the event. "We packed 400 pro-life warriors into eight buses," Julia told the crowd. " We have traveled 24 hours to come to D.C., to be a witness to life in our nation's capital. We are the pro-life generation!"

Sherri Simon, a Shanley administrator, stood at a police barricade and wiped away tears as Julia finished speaking. "It means everything" to be here, Simon said. Then she apologized for ending the interview; she had to lead her students out of the rally and to the front of the parade up Constitution Avenue.

Shanley students led the loud, sometimes raucous march. The school has sent a group each year for the past four years, but Rita Visser, a parent volunteer, said many students became motivated to attend the march after voters in North Dakota defeated a constitutional amendment in November that would have declared the "inalienable right to life" at every stage of human development. Abortion rights advocates said the measure would have essentially ended legal abortions there.

Erin Douglas, 19, a sophomore at the University of South Alabama in Mobile, flew to Washington with a dozen classmates. "It's not just her body," she said. "When there's a baby in there, it's the baby's body as well."

Jennifer Runiewicz, an eighth-grade religion and literature teacher at St. Raphael the Archangel School in St. Louis, gathered her students for a photo as the march neared. The school brought 32 eighth-graders to the march this year. "We build it into our curriculum," Runiewicz said. "We talk about the dignity of life." As she spoke, marchers passed by, chanting, "Hey hey, ho ho, Roe v. Wade has got to go!"

The march was scheduled to pass in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, but as it neared the marble edifice, a small counterprotest stepped into the street and stopped the marchers. U.S. Capitol Police confronted the yelling protesters, many of whom wore white pants with simulated blood staining the insides of the legs.

The group, which numbered a few dozen, chanted, "Without these basic rights, women can't be free — abortion on demand and without apology."

Police quickly moved the abortion opponents to the curb and arrested most of the counterprotesters, restraining their arms behind them with plastic ties and carrying them off as the march members cheered. A few chanted, "Je-sus! Je-sus!" and "USA! USA!"

The march took place as congressional leaders canceled a vote, scheduled for Thursday, on an abortion bill sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz. The decision came after some members objected that the legislation was too restrictive and would hurt them with voters. Lawmakers instead approved a watered-down bill that would ban federal funding for abortions.

Franks' bill would have banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy and provided exceptions for a woman's health and in cases of reported rape or incest involving a minor.

The National Right to Life Committee released its second annual report examining "The State of Abortion in America."

"While recent reports show a significant decrease in the annual number of abortions, tragically, nearly 3,000 unborn children are still killed every day in the United States," said Carol Tobias, president of National Right to Life.

NARAL Pro-Choice America posted this message on its Facebook page: "We're part of the 7 in 10 who support Roe v. Wade because we believe everyone should decide for themselves whether, when and with whom to have a family."

Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL, dismissed both congressional bills as an attack on women.

"On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, today's action in the House is a vivid reminder of the constant attack women are under from politicians who — unlike most Americans — refuse to trust us and allow us to control our own bodies and make our own decisions about our lives," she said in a written statement.

This year's march focused on youth activism. Organizers urged the attendees, many of them high-schoolers and college students, to tweet photos of the march and as an added bit of activism, to text the message "givelife" to the phone number 99000 "to continue marching throughout the entire year."

As they walked toward Union Station to catch a bus home, students from St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls in Philadelphia snapped selfies and chatted about the march. Victoria Mellon, 17, a senior, said she and her classmates, Marra Fulmer and Christi Gosse, both 17, "were expecting a big crowd and lots of rowdiness." She said the march met her expectations. Her friends agreed.

Contributing: Bill Theobald, USA TODAY; Associated Press