WASHINGTON — Before heading off to Thursday’s March for Life, I
checked the Washington Post to see if it mentioned the
event in any news story. Nope. Thousands of pro-lifers descending
on the nation’s capital apparently doesn’t qualify as news at the
Post.
Many of the thousands at the march were teenagers. Had they been
sweeping down Constitution Avenue to demand free-condom
legislation, the Post might have previewed the march. But
thousands of teens protesting Roe v. Wade? That certainly
isn’t an event of any great moment.
ABC News used the anniversary of Roe v. Wade as an
occasion to explore the urgent subject of “Christian Terrorists,”
though the Associated Press did generously observe that “Abortion
Demonstrators Mark Roe v. Wade.” Not pro-lifers, notice,
but “abortion demonstrators.”
The press perked up a little when President George Bush phoned
the marchers from the road — “Roswell, New Mexico,” I believe he
said — a location journalists who consider pro-lifers a form of
alien life must have appreciated. The press have always enjoyed
this venerable Republican presidential tradition of distant phone
contact with pro-lifers. Though the march begins near the Ellipse,
a stone’s throw from the White House, Republican presidents have
never managed to make the event. They always seem to be out of
town. But they do make sure to call. (What if a Republican
president, for some reason, couldn’t leave town on the day of the
March for Life? Then what would he do? Call the march-goers from
his office while looking at them outside his window?)
The crowd seemed to appreciate Bush’s call. When he said that he
had banned the “brutal procedure” of partial-abortion, it erupted.
“Michigan Loves Our Pro-Life President,” said one banner.
March-goers also carried signs saying “Thank You, President
Bush.”
Several congressmen showed up to the march. With a sizable
Pennsylvania pro-life contingent in attendance, the march was a
veritable campaign stop for Pennsylvania Congressman Pat Toomey. He
didn’t mention Arlen Specter, the useless to destructive
Pennsylvania senator he hopes to unseat, but did say that
pro-lifers need to “reclaim the Senate.”
Kansas pro-lifers trekked to the march and were rewarded with
appearances by Kansas Congressman Jim Ryun and Kansas Senator Sam
Brownback, among others. Kansas was far better represented than
Maryland, the historically Catholic state which now boasts a
whopping one pro-life congressman.
To his credit, given that most Republican senators avoid the
march like the plague, Minnesota senator Norm Coleman showed up.
Used to Arctic weather, he arrived without overcoat, noting the
“warm” Washington, D.C. day.
Someone on the podium made the apt remark that a Congress which
can protect unborn turtles should be able to protect unborn
children.
Then came the clerics. Nothing memorable was said, save for one
rabbi’s warning to avoid the “tranquilizing drug of
gradualism.”
But it was good to see John Kerry’s bishop in attendance, Sean
Patrick O’Malley, the new head of the Boston archdiocese. Will
O’Malley follow the lead of Raymond Burke, the La Crosse, Wisconsin
bishop, who recently told pro-abortion Catholic pols to shape up or
stop coming to communion?
March for Life organizers handed out a flier urging the bishops
to stop sitting on their hands. “A Message For Our Bishops: The Way
of La Crosse Leads To Life,” it said.
Though an ecumenical event, the March for Life in its
organization and participation is largely Catholic. The march gives
off a glimmer of the cultural potency the Church once enjoyed and
could recover if the bishops got serious about their duties. It is
striking that even in its weakened state Catholicism is driving the
pro-life movement. Were the whole Church at every level pro-life,
its cultural impact would be colossal. The Tom Daschles and Ted
Kennedys, as they looked outside their offices and saw a sea of
pro-lifers on Constitution Avenue, must have trembled a bit,
wondering how long they can get away with their pro-abortion
Catholicism.
The marchers looked for the most part like Reagan Democrats,
Catholics from the working class who have no choice but to vote
Republican as the Dems become more and more the proud party of
abortion. One marcher wore a hard hat emblazoned with a cross and a
pro-life slogan. When the marchers passed construction workers atop
one government building, the construction workers cheered.
The police seemed happy with the marchers too. “Everybody has
been peaceful,” I heard one say. The police could loll about like
journalists. One television journalist was so disengaged from the
event he was watching “The Price Is Right” in his truck.
Doped-up teens smashing in a Starbucks might have gotten his
attention. But this was obviously a non-event, just thousands of
young people, among others, asking the wise men of Washington to
end the million-plus abortions a year.
George Neumayr is managing editor of The American
Spectator.
