March For Life will bring pro-life protesters to Raleigh Saturday
Hundreds of anti-abortion protesters are expected in downtown Raleigh Saturday for the annual March For Life rally.
National polling shows that a majority of Americans support abortion, and that support is growing. But the topic nevertheless remains a hot-button issue in politics. So with the 2020 elections coming up, this year’s March For Life is expected to be as big as ever.
The march will be held Saturday, starting with a rally at 1 p.m. at Bicentennial Mall, which is the pedestrian space directly across the street from the North Carolina General Assembly building, between the North Carolina museums of history and natural sciences. After the rally and speeches, attendees will march around downtown Raleigh.
Featured speakers will include Bishop Luis Zarama — who is the top Catholic leader in the eastern half of the state, known as the Raleigh Diocese — as well as Kurt Kondrich, an advocate for children with Down syndrome.
“He has a child with Down syndrome that he was encouraged to abort,” said Bill Pincus, president of N.C. Right To Life, which organizes the annual march. “We believe that all life is precious, and God sometimes sends us challenges that we have to work with. And it’s how we accept them, and respond to them, that we value every life.”
Public opinion on abortion
The Pew Research Center has been tracking national opinions on abortion since 1995. Its polling shows support for abortion was higher in 2019 than in any previous year, with 61% of people saying abortion should be legal all or most of the time, compared to 37% who said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.
Breaking the numbers down further, Pew found just 12% of Americans believe abortion should be illegal in all cases, and 88% believe there are at least some cases where abortion can be justified.
But according to polling from Gallup, public support for abortion drops off sharply after the first few months of pregnancy. Gallup found that while 60% of people think abortion in the first trimester should be legal, support for the legality of abortion drops to 28% during a woman’s second trimester and just 13% in the third trimester.
The pro-choice group NARAL-NC plans to have two or three dozen abortion supporters at Saturday’s rally and march. Tara Romano, the group’s executive director, said they won’t be trying to start any fights. They just want to make their presence known and represent their views, she said.
“Like the majority of Americans, the majority of North Carolinians do support abortion access and do not want to overturn Roe v. Wade,” Romano said.
But for those who view abortion as akin to murder, such stances can be unthinkable. The Catholic churches Zarama leads offer several ministries to people who are either considering an abortion or have already gone through with the procedure, including a program called Project Rachel.
“Abortion creates a wound in post-abortive women (and men), resulting in spiritual and emotional problems,” the Raleigh Diocese says on its website. “The Project Rachel ministry assists women and men who have been wounded by abortion to find truth and healing.”
Politics of abortion
In 2017, the Raleigh March For Life was held just days before Donald Trump was sworn in as president. A News & Observer article about the rally that year chronicled attendees who were excited for a Republican president, despite the fact the Trump was pro-choice until he started running for president.
Since then, however, Congress has failed in multiple attempts to cut federal funding to Planned Parenthood’s non-abortion medical services, such as cancer screenings and pelvic exams, which is a goal of anti-abortion activists. Government money has already been almost entirely banned from directly funding abortions, due to a 1976 law called the Hyde Amendment.
But even without action from Congress the Trump administration was able to partially chip away at some of those clinics’ Medicaid eligibility. New regulations last summer blocked federal family-planning money from any health clinics that provide abortions or refer patients to clinics that do, NPR reported. The new regulations also “direct new funds to faith-based” groups, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
In state politics, the Republican-controlled General Assembly did pass an “infanticide” bill. It would have created new civil penalties for doctors or nurses who killed babies born alive after a botched abortion.
Supporters of the bill weren’t able to point to any examples of that ever happening in North Carolina, however, and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the infanticide bill. Lawmakers weren’t able to override the veto.
“Laws already protect newborn babies and this bill is an unnecessary interference between doctors and their patients,” Cooper said in explaining his veto.
Around a month before that, in March 2019, a federal judge struck down North Carolina’s ban on abortions after 20 weeks as unconstitutional. State lawmakers had passed that ban in 2015 — despite, the judge noted, court cases from other states showing that such bans have consistently been ruled unconstitutional.
State legislators have appealed the ruling, and court records show it’s still awaiting a hearing before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. It’s possible that case could garner national attention, particularly if the appeal is heard close to the November elections.
And Pincus said he expects Saturday’s march to reflect the heightened focus on abortion.
“It’s an election year so I anticipate there will be quite a few politicians out there,” he said.
North Carolina will be a target for national anti-abortion groups in 2020, too. The Susan B. Anthony List and its affiliated Super PAC plan to spend $52 million on this year’s elections in a handful of swing states, including North Carolina. On Friday, the group announced it already has staffers knocking on doors in North Carolina, Florida and Arizona.
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This story was originally published January 17, 2020 at 1:37 PM.
