On Friday, hundreds of thousands of Americans marched to the U.S. Supreme Court in protest of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in 1973. The 45th annual March for Life drew crowds from across the country and inspired some fascinating signs.
Here are 15 memorable signs from the march:
1. The crowd itself
The most important sign at the March for Life was the size and diversity of the crowd. This year, hundreds of thousands came from states across America. Indeed, a new poll from Marist and the Knights of Columbus (KoC) showed that most Americans support major restrictions on abortion, in keeping with the spirit of the March for Life.
2. The banner
While it may seem prosaic to point this out, the banner actually says a great deal about the protest. The men and women (and children) who took to the streets on Friday were not marching — as The Washington Post put it — for “antiabortion.” They were marching for life. In this particular case, the march focuses on the lives of unborn babies. Many marchers chanted, “We love babies, yes we do! We love babies, how about you?” While the march did oppose abortion, its focus was life, not abortion.
3. Life trumps fear
An enterprising group designed a banner subverting the liberal anti-Trump slogan “Love Trumps Hate.” The message, “Life Trumps Fear,” suggested that the value of an unborn baby’s life is more important than a mother’s fear in a crisis pregnancy — a powerful message.
4. Make unborn babies great again!
“Life Trumps Fear” wasn’t the only political slogan pro-lifers employed into a witty message. These signs co-opting Donald Trump’s famous slogan, “Make America Great Again,” also mimicked the style of Trump’s posters.
5. Pro-life is pro-woman
Pro-abortion activists often argue that abortion empowers women. They claim that abortion enables mothers in a crisis pregnancy to have another option — to bail on the life of their unborn children. To this, the group Save the Storks printed signs reading, “Pro-Life Is Pro-Woman.”
McKahl English, a high school student from Bloomington, Ill., explained the sign to PJ Media. “Even if you abort, that affects you for a long time. You have to take care of yourself. You never meet anybody that regrets having a kid but you meet a lot who regret having an abortion,” English said. Her remarks suggested that becoming a mother is more fulfilling than opting for abortion, and that abortion does not represent the freedom many Leftists claim it does.
6. The cross
A huge percentage of those in the March for Life were Christian, and what could be a more powerful sign of Christianity than the cross? Jamie Johnson, a man from Louisiana, also carried the cross symbolically, however. He told PJ Media he was walking like Simon of Cyrene, the man who helped Jesus carry his cross on the way to Golgotha. This act represented solidarity with all the unborn lives snuffed out due to abortion.
“One unplanned pregnancy saved us all,” Johnson said.
7. Generation life
One enterprising group actually made matching scarves to wear, reading, “Generation Life.” Not everyone wore the scarves, however, since it was a balmy 50 degrees Fahrenheit — warm enough to just wear a sweater.
Nevertheless, the scarves were a great idea, because most years, the March for Life takes place in cold temperatures. The scarves might come in handy next year. (If only the Supreme Court had decided Roe v. Wade in the summer!)
8. Thanks, birth moms!
This adoptive mother is raising four children whose birth mothers chose life. Her adopted children are alive today because women who faced crisis pregnancies decided to give the gift of life to their children, rather than taking those lives into their own hands. What an inspiring sacrifice, and what a reason to march!
9. “Blob” or baby?
This man is holding a sign he designed in 1990 for the National Right to Life protest that year. His sign presents the fundamental question about an unborn baby in the womb — is it a “blob” of cells or a human individual? Those marching for life would claim the latter, based on DNA evidence and personal conviction.
10. Martin Luther King Jr. quote?
This teenage boy held a sign purportedly quoting pastor and civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. “Every aborted baby is like a slave in the womb of his or her mother. The mother decides his or her fate,” the quote read. This sign emphasized both the dignity and the helplessness of a baby in the womb. Perhaps ironically, the quote does not come from King himself, but from his niece, pro-life activist Alveda King.
Although the quote was misattributed, it is still a remarkable statement worthy of the March for Life.
11. Ronald Reagan quote
Unlike the quote above, this quote is right on the money. President Ronald Reagan delivered one of the pithiest statements about abortion: “I’ve noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.” This quote suggests a radical shift in perspective — for political activists to realize they all were once fetuses in the wombs of their mothers.
The very people who clamor for abortion had mothers who chose life. If their mothers had chosen differently, they would not be around to support abortion.
12. Check your privilege
In a similar vein, this enterprising young pro-life woman used the liberal slogan “check your privilege” to devastating effect. Leftists use the phrase to encourage straight white men — or anyone with similar “advantages” — to consider that life would have been harder for them if they were gay, black, or female.
This sign adopted that same perspective shift, but on the issue of abortion. If you have been born, perhaps you should hesitate to argue for the very process that would have cost you your own life in the womb.
13. Former fetuses united for life
This sign also brought the message home — each protester at the March for Life was once a fetus in the womb of his or her mother. Each fetus targeted for abortion could have had the same possibilities. Therefore, the former fetuses at the March for Life unite to protect the lives of their fellow human beings, born and unborn.
14. This Indian family
This family from southern India now lives in the United States, but they advocate against abortion in the U.S. and in India. On the other side, their sign read, “16 million babies aborted every year in India. No more U.S. funding abortions abroad.” This statistic referred to a study published in The Lancet: Global Health, which estimated that there were 15.6 million abortions in India in 2015.
The sign praised President Trump for reinstating the “Mexico City Policy,” which bars non-governmental organizations that offer or promote abortion overseas from receiving U.S. government funding. President Obama had reversed the policy.
The family told PJ Media that the Indian government used to employ forced sterilization, and they had quotas requiring a certain number of people be sterilized in the interest of population control. Often, the poorest (and dark-skinned) class of Dalits or Untouchables would be targeted for this inhumane practice.
15. No matter how small
This older gentleman faithfully held a sign with the Dr. Seuss quote, “A person’s a person no matter how small.” Since the March for Life takes place on the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, this image of the faithful older man holding the child’s quote in front of the hall of power where abortion was legalized in all fifty states proves particularly iconic.
Finally, if you want a sense for just how massive the crowd at the March for Life was, you can watch a Facebook Live video below. The video goes on for an entire hour, and it represents a small portion of the marchers, but it should give a good perspective (even if the signs are, lamentably, backward).
Live video of the #MarchForLife – Here’s how big the crowd is!
Posted by PJ Media on Friday, January 19, 2018
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