March for Life: Hope for abortion policy change energizes Michiganders

Jan. 25--While millions of women marched last weekend for equal rights around the world, many others sat on the sidelines.

They felt excluded from the Women's March on Washington because of one tenet: Its pro-abortion rights platform.

But this week, it's their turn.

Advocates who oppose a right to abortion say they're seeing a renewed interest in this year's March for Life, set for Friday on the National Mall. They predict it will see a surge of participants not only because it's happening on the heels of the Women's March, but also because of the inauguration of President Donald Trump.

"After the inauguration and the Women's March on D.C., our phone has been ringing off the hook with more people wanting to get on our bus trips," said Laura Alexandria, director of operations for the Grand Rapids affiliate of Right to Life of Michigan, which is sending 12 buses to Washington. "We are really close to capacity on our buses."

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Although there are no official crowd estimates from recent years, the march and rally are expected to draw thousands -- potentially hundreds of thousands -- this year, said Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, including many from Michigan.

"There is renewed vigor and interest this year, with the hope of the new administration passing some pro-life policies," she said.

Marchers will urge lawmakers to tighten abortion restrictions and encourage Trump to appoint conservative judges to the U.S. Supreme Court who could reverse the 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade, which affirmed a right to an abortion.

Kellyanne Conway, the woman who steered Trump's campaign and now is among his top advisers, will be the headliner at the march, which has taken place annually for the last 44 years.

Conway has been a controversial figure, first wearing a jacket studded with metal cat-head buttons, which many fashion critics saw as a response to the sea of pussyhats worn at the Women's March. She also defended the so-called alternative facts Sean Spicer, Trump's press secretary, gave during the first news briefing of the administration about crowd counts during Trump's inauguration.

Mancini is eager to hear what Conway has to say.

"She's been pro-life for her whole life," Mancini said. "She used to come to the March for Life when she lived in D.C. A mother of four, she's, I think, a real role model for young women.

"We've asked all of our speakers to address our theme this year, which is 'The Power of One.' It really is taking a line from (J.R.R.) Tolkien's famous trilogy, 'Lord of the Rings.' There's a line in there that even the smallest person can change the course of the future. We want marchers to leave really motivated that they can make an impact in their local community."

Mancini said there could even be a Trump appearance at the march.

"We've made invitations to the White House, and we have a lot of hope that we'll have some interaction" with the president, she said.

As one of his first acts as president, Trump signed an executive order Monday to reinstate the Mexico City Policy, which was introduced in 1984 by then-President Ronald Reagan. The policy creates a global gag rule prohibiting any discussion of abortion, family planning or condom use by any international organization that receives U.S. federal funding.

That's encouraging to many who oppose abortion rights, as are the prospects of new Supreme Court appointments.

"With the number of justices that potentially will be appointed in President Trump's term, there's a vision for the future that we can overturn Roe v. Wade, and there's a new vision of possibility for this to come true very soon," said Rebecca Cooper, 19, of Gaylord, who is involved in the Students for Life organization on her campus.

Cooper, a student at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, said she's marching because she believes in life from the moment of conception that "is made in the image of God. I believe that's what gives us worth, and that is why I choose to spend my time and my efforts defending that life.

"I'm going to march to demonstrate that I believe it is wrong to intentionally kill an unborn baby. That baby is human. That's half of why I'm going. The other half is to say that I also stand with single moms and women having unexpected babies. We want to help you choose life for your baby, but also want to walk alongside you and stand beside you and that baby, and give you the life you both deserve."

She'll ride a bus to Washington, along with hundreds of others around the state.

Chris Gast, director of communications for Right to Life of Michigan, said it's hard to estimate how many people will leave Michigan by bus for the march.

"Churches and schools take some of their own. Grand Rapids Right to Life is taking 12 buses. Our affiliates are taking at least 15 buses," he said.

Gast will be there, and he predicts a larger crowd than last year. So does Alexandria.

"It's close to 700 people that our organization alone is getting to the March for Life," she said. "This is our largest year ever. It is only conjecture, but my thought would be that it is probably a reaction to pro-life people getting a pro-life Republican president back in office."

Christen Pollo, 25, of Lansing is the executive director of Students for Life of Michigan and is organizing two buses to go to Washington for the march. The 2013 University of Michigan graduate now works with 45 groups of high school and college students throughout the state.

"I know there will be thousands that go from all across Michigan," she said. "We are taking about 120 college students from all over, even way up in the U.P.

"This is the 44th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Especially as we have a new president and all these new elected officials in Washington, D.C., we want to send the message that there's still a large contingency of young people ... who still care about the abortion issue.

"We're going to hold them accountable for the legislation they support and introduce."

Mancini stressed that the March for Life is a peaceful protest, and referenced Madonna's speech at last weekend's Women's March on Washington, in which the singer said she'd thought of blowing up the White House.

"You'd never see someone at the March for Life threatening to blow up anyone's house, much less the White House," Mancini said, "let alone threatening any kind of violence or anything like that. We believe that one of the most violent things that happens in our country is in the womb with abortion."

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Yet, some extreme protesters have turned violent in the years since the Roe v. Wade decision. There have been bombings, arsons, shootings and other acts against abortion clinics and medical providers who perform abortions.

That, however, is not what the March for Life is about, Mancini said.

"We are a really a very peaceful protest. We've been going on for 44 years strong."

It's unfortunate that some women felt excluded from last weekend's Women's March on Washington, said Phoebe Hopps, the Michigan coordinator for the Women's March.

She said the march's pro-abortion-rights stance isn't to suggest women should have abortions, but rather about opposing laws that regulate what women can and can't do with their bodies.

"I know that it's a really controversial and touchy subject, but it's also freedom of choice and freedom to have control over your own reproductive organs," she said. "You'll never see in the history of time a group of women signing bills and making decisions about men's sexual organs or reproductive organs. You'll never see that. And it's unfair that men attack women's birth control. They think that they can be in control of our bodies. Whether or not abortion is right or wrong is another topic. Whether it's a part of your religion, that's a different thing."

Mancini, however, said her organization's goal is to ensure that abortion is never a choice.

"Our loftiest goal, really our mission, is to build a culture where abortion is unthinkable, and where hearts and minds are in line with each other, where we live in a culture of light and love," she said. "We try to live that in our lives. The way we interact with different people."

Contact Kristen Jordan Shamus: 313-222-5997 or kshamus@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus.

If you go

The rally in advance of the 44th annual March for Life is planned for noon Friday at the Washington Monument near the corner of 15th St. and Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C.

Speakers are to include Kellyanne Conway, senior counselor to President Trump; Cardinal Timothy Dolan; Benjamin Watson, tight end for the Baltimore Ravens; Abby Johnson, a former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic and founder of "And Then There Were None;" Karyme Lozano, a Mexican telenovela star; Eric Metaxas, author and host of "The Eric Metaxas Show", and Bishop Vincent Mathews Jr., president at Church of God In Christ World Missions.

March will begin on Constitution Avenue between 15th and 17th streets at about 1 p.m., and will proceed to First Street, turn right and continue past the U.S. Supreme Court.

To learn more, go to www.marchforlife.org.

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