WASHINGTON — Sunday’s “March for Women’s Lives” made maximum usage of euphemism, invoking “choice” whenever marchers meant killing. They, for example, used placards to convey the lament that Barbara Bush hadn’t killed her son in the womb. “If Only Barbara Bush Had Choice,” read one sign. “Barbara Chose Poorly,” read another. Marchers were also disappointed that the Pope’s mother hadn’t killed him in the womb. “The Pope’s Mother Had No Choice,” said a sign.
The repulsive heretic Francis Kissling of the sham “Catholics for Free Choice” named the Pope as “the worst enemy of choice.” Kissling called the vile event on the national mall a “sacred place,” the “place to be, not the churches.”
One could call the Sunday march a festival of paganism, but that’s probably not fair to ancient pagans. Worshippers of Baal would have regarded it as a little too depraved for their taste. If C-SPAN covered the event, it must have had to black and beep out much of it. It sounded like a sustained FCC violation and many of the placards were too baldly obscene (usually twisting the president and vice presidents’ names in various vulgar concoctions) for any newspaper to report.
Not that the dominant media would report them anyway. No doubt they will cast the march as mainstream and American as apple pie, a reflection of widespread bourgeois dismay with the Bush administration. But few families could be found in this crowd. The march should have been renamed a “March for Lesbians’ Lives.” A group called the “Lesbian avengers” were out in force, as were “Christian Dykes for Choice.” There was an awful lot of talk about “reproductive rights” from people not known for reproducing. Though to be fair, the crowd was a bit more polymorphous than that. “Bisexual Breeders for Choice” made an appearance.
Upset at the growing perception that they are godless degenerates, marchers tried to wrap themselves in religion as much as possible. Planned Parenthood now has a chaplain. And march organizers cobbled together other phony religious fronts for abortion, such as “Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.” “You don’t own religion,” one speaker said to the “religious reich.” A female rabbi appeared on the podium to say that she was “pro-God, pro-choice.” The marchers know that God blesses the abortion of unborn children because God is a woman. “I asked God. She’s pro-choice,” was a popular sign. And they are now theological enough to place Satan on the same ticket as George Bush — the “Bush/Satan” administration.
Separation-of-church-state advocate Barry Lynn, whom the media insist on calling a “reverend” but is obviously a fraud, also described the protest as a “hallowed space.” But though they wanted to turn God into an abortion activist and enlist the support of as many churches and religions as possible — “Episcopalians for Choice,” “This Is What a Jewish Feminist Looks Like” were signs seen in the crowd — the marchers could not resist certain anti-religious chants. “Tax the church, tax the church” followed the attacks of Kissling and others on the Pope and the Catholic Church.
The emcee of the event told the crowd that “I wanted to be your dominatrix this morning.” Then, before introducing Hillary Clinton, she said, “Estrogen levels on this mall have reached levels we enjoy.” A blast of applause greeted Clinton. She was in head-counting ward-boss mode, urging marchers to vote for the Democratic ticket in the fall. “Thank you, President Clinton,” the emcee said to her when she finished.
Speakers called the event the largest “march in history,” and claimed a “million marchers.” They were only off by about 700,000 (if the press’s generous 300,000 figure is accurate). Just as the marchers used “preachers” as props of credibility, they dragooned children into service as well. Children festooned with pro-abortion pins wandered around. And then there were the “respectable elderly,” old fools marching with signs like “Another Granny for Choice.”
The anti-globalization march from Saturday supplied a few stragglers to fill out Sunday’s march, as evident in the numerous socialist booths set up on the mall. The two marches melded well enough. Marchers equated “choice” not just with abortion but with all the government programs they seek. They don’t simply want abortion permitted but also paid for. Marchers called for “free abortion on demand” and held signs saying “abortion rights, welfare rights.” Bush was blamed for all their woes. They even blamed “eugenics and sterilization” on the Bush administration — a topic Margaret Sanger might have advised them to avoid.
George Neumayr is managing editor of The American Spectator.
