Emboldened by recent shifts in the political landscape, several thousand anti-abortion activists rallied in San Francisco on Saturday in a march that stretched from the Ferry Building almost to Fisherman's Wharf.

The sixth annual Walk for Life, organized by two Bay Area women, was bolstered by busloads of marchers drawn from organizations across California. They walked from Justin Herman Plaza to the Marina district.

The event was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's Roe vs. Wade decision, the Jan. 22, 1973, ruling that legalized abortion in the United States. Organizers have staged each of their yearly protests in San Francisco as a symbolic challenge in a city that strongly favors granting women access to abortions.

Smaller counterprotest

Surveying the throng walking in a steady drizzle, co-organizer Eva Muntean said, "The state of the movement is strong and growing. In this kind of weather, all of these people turned out. And most of them are young people. That's saying something."

A counterdemonstration organized by the Bay Area Coalition for Our Reproductive Rights drew only a few dozen demonstrators, many of whom marched alongside their counterparts on the Embarcadero, chanting slogans including, "Get off our ovaries, keep your rosaries."

Organizers and participants of the abortion rights demonstration worried about their paltry showing.

"This is a sign that women think that Roe vs. Wade is safe. And that is a mistake," said organizer and Berkeley resident Laura Nelson. "Abortion rights are under attack from all sides."

She and others pointed to the Stupak Amendment in the House version of the health care reform bill being considered by Congress. It would prevent women from obtaining abortions through government-sponsored insurance or any plan that receives government subsidies.

Proposed by Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., the measure passed last fall with the support of 64 Democrats along with most House Republicans. Vendors sold buttons to anti-abortion marchers that read, "I'm with Stupak."

"Women can't count on Democrats to support women's rights," said Anita O'Shea, an abortion rights supporter who lives in San Francisco.

At the anti-abortion rally at Justin Herman Plaza beforehand, speakers included religious leaders and women who have had abortions. The Rev. Jim Garlow compared "abortuaries" - clinics where abortions are performed - to Buchenwald, a Nazi concentration camp where thousands of Jews and others were killed.

'Great spiritual awakening'

Offstage, Garlow, who leads a congregation in San Diego, said the Stupak Amendment and polls that show increasing opposition to abortion were "signs that a great spiritual awakening is about to happen."

Josue Jimenez, who came to the demonstration with nine relatives and 500 fellow members of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Modesto, said he was there not because of politics, but because of a heartfelt opposition to abortion.

"We're here to support life," said Josue, 17. "Abortion is like killing kids. It would be like killing your brother and sister."

Several out-of-towners who watched the demonstration as they visited Fisherman's Wharf were surprised that it was being held in San Francisco.

Said Rosario Gazita, 16, who was visiting from Chile: "I thought this was not a conservative place."