There were two major stories in the pro-life movement this week.
The first covered the activities surrounding the 45th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton decisions of the Supreme Court. That anniversary occurred on Monday, January 22, and was preceded by the 45th annual March for Life in Washington, DC last Friday, January 19.
The March for Life attracted several hundred thousand people and can best be described in one word: amazing! The weather was great—sunny, in the high 40s, and with a cool breeze. Hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates from all over the country joined together to tell the politicians in Congress that we will not rest until every preborn child is protected in the law and in our hearts.
As ALL’s executive director stood on the stage at the March, he was struck by the number of young people in the crowd. This is clearly a young people’s movement, and, as such, will be victorious. The highlight of the rally was a live-stream video address by both Vice President Mike Pence and President Donald Trump. The White House released a statement on the event, which included a video of both Pence’s and Trump’s remarks. You can see it here.
As part of the March for Life activities, there is an Expo at the Renaissance Hotel on the day before and the day of the March. Pro-life groups from around the country, including American Life League, have booths at the Expo. This year our theme for the booth was 100% Pro-Life. As you know, American Life League’s unflinching fight for the lives of every single preborn human being sets us apart from many other pro-life groups as we refuse to support legislation that explicitly or implicitly includes exceptions that allow some babies to be murdered.
We are thrilled to report that a great many March attendees excitedly supported that position. As part of our activities, we displayed and sold our 100% Pro-Life T-Shirt. From the first opening of the doors on Thursday this shirt was in great demand. By mid-morning on Friday we had sold out of all but a few of the smallest children’s sizes. In the end, people were coming to our booth saying: “I’ve been told this is the shirt I need to buy.”
The second major story of the week was the speculation that Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards will soon resign from PP, perhaps as early as at a PP board meeting next week. Richards appeared live on The Daily Show last night and did not deny the rumors. She only said she was not going to announce anything on the show.
Richards, who has no healthcare experience but who has a great deal of political experience, took over at Planned Parenthood in February 2006 and immediately began 12 years of shattering the organization’s medical services while building it into a political powerhouse. Her crowning achievement was to be the election of Hillary Clinton as US president, but we all know how that worked out.
Having failed at that effort, and apparently having no heart to remain at Planned Parenthood and continue to be drawn into the daily turmoil of closing facilities, losing customers, dealing with threats of government defunding, and going through a Justice Department investigation of Planned Parenthood’s illegal medical activities, Richards has decided to jump ship.
We expect she will soon announce a major effort to get women elected to political positions all across the country because—as she expressed on The Daily Show—we just can’t have men who can’t get pregnant making decisions about women’s lives.
Richards was the fifth major president of Planned Parenthood and her 12 years at the helm is about average. But the devastating loss of customers and facilities during her reign may be hard for Planned Parenthood to recover from.
Rest assured that American Life League will be here to actively fight Planned Parenthood, through our STOPP program, no matter who becomes the next president of the organization.
