The Guilfordian

Issue date: 2/18/05 Section: World

Protesters march in support of choice on Jan. 23 in San Francisco

The America of our dreams, where every child is welcomed in law - in life, and protected in law, may be some ways away," President Bush told demonstrators at the annual March for Life rally in Washington D.C. on Jan. 25, "but even from the far side of the river, we can see its glimmerings."

On a day following the thirty-second anniversary of Roe v. Wade, Bush's words were greeted with applause and cheering from the tens of thousands of anti-abortion activists chanting pro-life slogans on Washington Mall.

NPR reported that Bush also said that he would continue "seeking common ground where possible and persuading increasing numbers of our fellow citizens of the rightness of our cause. This is the path of the culture of life that we seek for our country."

Norma McCorvey, formerly "Jane Roe" of Roe v. Wade, was also among the demonstrators. McCorvey, who has had a change of stance on abortion, said,

"We look forward to having abortion - the covenant of death - to be overturned."

Last week, according to Fox News, McCorvey formally asked the Supreme Court to overturn its decision on abortion.

The rally also featured Senator Sam Brownback, (R - Kan.) and other prominent GOP members.

Abortion is one of the most common and safest surgical procedures for women in the U.S. However, only three percent of global abortions occur in the United States, and 90 percent of them are in the first trimester.

Citing his signing of legislation last year banning late-term abortions, the President said that he would work with Congress to pass "good, solid legislation to protect the vulnerable."

Seven-months-pregnant Guilford Bonner Scholar program coordinator Claire Dixon challenges Bush's commitment to saving life. She notes the record number of executions that took place under Bush's term as Texas governor.

Dixon, who is pro-choice, condones abortion in the first trimester of a woman's pregnancy. Professing no knowledge of the occurrence of viability in the cycle of life, she still argues that execution is a clearer-cut case of killing a human life.

"How is that OK?" she asks. "Bush is not even consistent. How could you be anti-abortion and pro-execution?"

Many women believe that abortion is not an institutional but a personal decision. Senior Julie Balasalle, who is Catholic yet pro-choice, subscribes to such notions.

Continued...

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