Women’s Reproductive Rights and Freedom to Decide at Forefront in 2014

Source: USA Today

By Natalie DiBlasio

WASHINGTON — The March for Life rolled through the nation’s snow-covered, bitterly cold capital Wednesday with thousands of hardy souls chanting, walking and listening to speakers press their case against abortion rights.

“We may be freezing, but we are freezing for the best cause in the world,” Patrick Kelly, chairman of the march, said to loud applause on the National Mall.

Protesters chanted as they marched: “Hey, hey, ho, ho, abortion has got to go,” and “We love babies, yes we do, we love babies, how about you?!”

It was the 41st anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court decision in the Roe v. Wade case that affirmed a woman’s right to an abortion.

For the ruling’s supporters, Wednesday was a day for celebration.

Ilyse Hogue, head of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said her organization was commemorating “the anniversary of the decision that enshrined into law a woman’s freedom to decide when, how and with whom to have a family.”

The fight to limit abortion has shifted largely to state legislatures. Since 2011, there have been more than 200 abortion restrictions — mandatory counseling, waiting periods, clinic regulations and more — enacted in 30 states, compared with 212 between 2001 and 2010, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health think tank that advocates abortion rights.

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