‘March for Life’ rally protests abortion in Washington, DC (PHOTOS)
An anti-abortion protester has a sign stuck to her back with stickers at the March for Life on January 25, 2013 in Washington, DC. The pro-life gathering is held each year around the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.
Thousands of protesters converged on the National Mall in Washington, DC on Friday to protest abortion in the "March for Life" rally.
The rally, held the same week as the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade which legalized abortion, was expected to draw hundreds of thousands, according the rally's organizers.
"We're expecting a big crowd," Jeanne Monahan of March for Life told NBC News yesterday. "We've seen lots of markers that would show that. Our hotel block sold out a month in advance of what it's ever sold out, and we've had more media requests than ever before, so we expect really record-breaking crowds."
The Hill blog reported that former Sen. Rick Santorum, a Republican from Pennsylvania and a former presidential candidate, would speak at the event.
"I am looking forward to joining hundreds of thousands of Americans who believe that every life has value and every life must be protected," Santorum said, according to The Hill. "We are a pro-life country, and the March for Life is an important opportunity for us to send a message to our elected officials that they must support policies that foster a culture of life."
USA Today noted that Pope Benedict tweeted his support of the event from his personal Twitter account, @pontifex.
In Fox News' opinion section, Dan Gainor wrote that the rally "also highlights how far the media will go to avoid using anything positive to describe people opposed to baby killing. Marchers get called 'opponents' and 'anti-abortion activists,' not 'pro-life.'"
The marchers and their supporters were active and vocal on social media, as the tweets below show:
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