March for Women’s Lives
I had planned to go to the March for Women’s Lives since the very first day I heard about it, several months ago. The March, originally called March for Choice, was in protest to the Bush Administration’s attack on women’s rights. We weren’t just there to fight for our right to have an abortion. We were also there to let the government know that we want accessible birth control, over-the-counter morning after pills, and proper sex education in our schools. Most women in this country don’t even realize that the government is trying to take those things away from us! The government takes money away from schools that don’t play by their rules.
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We stood on the mall for a while listening to the speakers and cheering. I didn’t realize Hillary Clinton was going to be there but she was and she gave a brief speech before flying back to Detroit for her speech at Cobo Hall for the NAACP. Lots of people spoke, including a black, male reverend from a church organization that was pro-choice. Then, a little after noon the march started, with Whoopie Goldberg, Ashley Judd and Cybil Shepherd leading the way. Other celebrities in attendance included Ted Turner, Candance Bergen, Ani DiFranco, Moby, Christine Lathi, Ali G., and Kathleen Turner…not to mention all the “feminist rock stars” such as Gloria Steinem. There was also a very strong John Kerry presence. He had spoke the day before, I think. Planned Parenthood and Naral have endorsed his candidacy, and I plan on voting for him as well.
Our group got split in half pretty early on, but our half stuck together through the whole march. I marched with Ann Arbor girls Theresa (from the Avatars) Aziza (from Sissy) and painter Miranda. Also from Detroit, Rachel and her 16-year-old sister were with us, as well as George, and his ex-girlfriend who lives near DC and met us at the March. (The other portion of our group included a lot of people who write for the Detroit paper the Furnace. There were 18 of us all together, although 26 had originally signed up.) It was amazing how diverse the crowd was. I saw lots of signs in Spanish, lots of grandmothers, and I even saw some sorority girls. Planned Parenthood’s website says that 1/3 of the marchers were under 35. They estimate that over a million people marched, but the news reports state that it was 800,000 at most. Still, it’s the largest march in women’s history, and one of the largest marches of all time.
Marching itself was the best part. People were chanting, singing and cheering the whole time. Theresa’s sign was one of the biggest, it said: “Barbara Bush is pro-Choice! Hey Junior, Listen to your Mother!” Mine said “Keep Your Rosaries out of My Ovaries.” We both got a great response for our signs and other marchers took our photos and we took their photos. Some of the other great signs I saw said “Hey Bush — we’ve got a plan for parenthood, do you have a plan for Iraq?” And many signs that said “Another ______ for Choice,” filled in with “teacher” “hermana” “student” “man” “catholic” and “redneck” just to name a few. I also loved the signs from Medical Students for Choice that said “We are America’s future Abortion Providers.”
About half way through the march there was a section of pro-lifers standing alone side the march with their signs. They had every right to be there, but I was shocked at how few of them there were. They were scattered alongside the march, but even so, among them were pro-choice marchers who weren’t marching, just cheering us on. Not only were the anti-choice protesters vastly out numbered, but they were the only people who were arrested, 18 in all. Sixteen of those were from an anti-choice Christian group. Another anti-choice person was arrested for throwing ink-filled eggs at marchers. And Jeff White of Lake Arrowhead, California was arrested in front of the D.C. Planned Parenthood clinic for displaying a dead fetus in a jar. He was arrested on the charge of keeping or exhibiting a dead body or body parts.
Some of the stupidest anti-choice signs said “God Hates You” and another one said something about calling us all “Jezebels”, which caused uproarious laughter from marchers. I also counted about a dozen priests from the anti-choice camp, one of them was actually praying at us. And I don’t mean praying for us, I mean at us. I yelled at him. Having been raised Catholic, to be in a circumstance where I could scream at a priest to “leave my rights alone!” was extremely satisfying. A man who was marching in front of us kept yelling to them “save the alter boys!” My arms still hurt from this stretch of the march because I held up my “rosary” sign as high as I could the whole time.
After we were done marching we went back to the Mall where Whoopie Goldberg was speaking and we took a break. We saw that the end of the march hadn’t even stepped off yet. It was that long. As we walked back to the Metro station we stood among some anti-choicers, cheering on our fellow marchers. I could’ve done the whole march over again, twice, but after only a few hours of sleep and another 8 hour drive home, I was beat, and everyone was ready to go home.
All in all it was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Not just to be apart of a history-making event but to see first hand to see that we really are the majority in this country. It was amazing to see that there are so many other people like me who refuse to let the “right” take our rights away.
Special thanks to those who couldn’t go to the March, but who donated to our trip.
Most photos courtesy of MarchForWomen.org.
For more information on how you can help, visit www.PlannedParenthood.org.
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