Pro-lifers march by the thousands

Tens of thousands of people converged on the District yesterday to participate in the March for Life and to attend Masses in recognition of the 34th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision in the Roe v. Wade case.

The march began at about 2 p.m. on the Mall and moved east past the U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court building in Northeast.

President Bush sent a message of support. In a telephone call broadcast over loudspeakers, he told the marchers that he shares their goal of seeing “the day when every child is welcomed in life and protected into law.”

The court’s decision overturned state laws barring abortion.

Mr. Bush calls the rally each year, usually from distant locations. This year, he extended his weekend stay at Camp David in Maryland to make the call. He phoned last year from Manhattan, Kan.

Students, members of religious groups, families and children slogged through mud and toted signs with messages such as “Abortion kills” and “Justice for all, born and preborn.”

The Rev. Luke J. Robinson, pastor of Quinn Chapel A.M.E. Church in Frederick, Md., asked what would have happened had Martin Luther King been aborted, then described the process in detail.

“I know it sounds horrible, but abortion is horrible,” he said, his voice thundering across the Mall. “It is a murderous and bloody business.”

Before the march, a sea of teens, parents and clergy filled the Verizon Center downtown for a Mass and rally organized by the Archdiocese of Washington.

Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, who was joined by cardinals, bishops and priests from across the United States, said the Mass was to celebrate “the value and dignity of human life.”

“The church is very much alive and pro-life,” he said to cheers and applause.

The Rev. William D. Byrne, the chaplain at the University of Maryland Catholic Student Center and the archdiocese’s director of campus ministry, delivered the homily and urged participants to “get on board with God’s plan.”

“Abortions happen not because of choice, but because people feel they have no choice,” he said. “A plan will save a life — not just the baby’s.”

Kevin O’Neill, 53, and Bill Stumf, 57, both of Titusville, Pa., came with a large group from the congregation of the Diocese of Erie.

Their group was made up largely of teens, including Mr. O’Neill’s 16-year-old daughter, Erin. The message was not lost on the youths, Mr. O’Neill said.

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