New Delhi: After Roe v Wade was overturned by United States Supreme Court, the first 'March for Life' was held in Washington DC on Friday. The rally is held every January since 1973 when Roe v Wade guaranteed abortion access nationwide, it was overturned in June last year.
According to a report by the BBC, the crowd of anti-abortion activists spread across the National Mall, celebrating the Supreme Court's decision. A small counter-protest with dozens of pro-choice activists was seen at the US Supreme Court.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America - one of the largest anti-abortion organisations in the US, said: "There's this sense that the end of Roe is catapulting us into an abortion-free future", the BBC reported.
According to the report, the participants in the march said that the Roe v Wade decision was the first step towards their ultimate goal which is to bar abortion across the US.
The March for Life supporters now look to push for action at the U.S. Capitol saying that the US Congress must be warned against making any attempt to curtail the multiple anti-abortion laws imposed last year in a dozen states, the Associate Press reported.
With the constitutional victory behind them, marchers took a new route along the western face of the US Capitol, to their usual destination between that complex and the court, the AP report mentioned.
The signs included slogans like: “I am the post-Roe generation”, “Excommunicate Pro-Choice Catholics”, and “Love Them Both” (meaning mother and child).
A supporter named Tammy Milligan dressed as “patriot Wonder Woman” said she never thought Roe v. Wade would be overruled in her lifetime. “We want it to be unthinkable for a woman to have an abortion,” she added, as quoted by AP.
Meanwhile, in the counter-protest outside the US Supreme Court building, 15 or so activists in favor of abortion rights held signs reading: “Bans off our Bodies,” “Mind your own uterus.” “Our bodies do not need advice from priests,” they sloganeered.
Meanwhile on the 50th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, US President Joe Biden released a statement reading, “Never before has the Court taken away a right so fundamental to Americans. In doing so, it put the health and lives of women across this Nation at risk.”
He stated that he would continue to use his executive authority in any way he can to preserve abortion protections while urging the Congress to enshrine such rights in law.