Tens of thousands of pro-life activists gathered in Civic Center Plaza in San Francisco on Saturday for the 14th annual Walk for Life West Coast.
KQED reported some 50,000 activists were expected to participate in the San Francisco event that mirrored the March for Life held January 19 in the nation’s capital. The pro-life events are held each year on or about the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade, when the high court created a right to abortion though none existed in the Constitution.
Wearing a pink jacket, Walk for Life West Coast co-founder Eva Muntean emphasized that abortion hurts both babies and women.
“We’re here to proclaim that abortion hurts women,” she told the crowd of activists. “We’re here to take back the narrative that abortion is a right and personally, I’m here to take back pink!”
Last weekend, thousands of feminists wearing pink “pussyhats” marched in the city against President Donald Trump’s pro-life agenda. Also, Planned Parenthood—the nation’s largest provider of abortions—uses pink as its signature color.
“No matter who is mayor, no matter who is governor, no matter who is president, we are not going away,” Muntean said. “We will not rest until every life is protected in America.”
Participants celebrated with Mass and a rally prior to the Walk from the Civic Center Plaza, down Market Street, and on to Justin Herman Plaza on the Embarcadero beside San Francisco Bay.
“I’m here to support the pro-life movement,” Sacramento resident Eunice Carver said, reports KQED. “I come from a southern state and they didn’t have abortion, and so I’ve always stood by pro-life.”
Salvador Rodriguez, 81, said he has participated in every Walk for Life West Coast since 2005.
“Abortion is terrible,” he said. “We’ve got to give the babies a chance.”
Former pro-abortion-turned-pro-life speakers headlined the rally prior to the Walk.
As National Catholic Register reports, the speakers included Terry Beatley, the founder of the Hosea Initiative, a group that carries on the work of former abortionist and co-founder of NARAL Bernard Nathanson, who eventually became a pro-life Catholic.
Beatley met Nathanson in 2009, when he was terminally ill with cancer. He shared with her the abortion lobby’s “eight-point propaganda campaign” to convince Americans to legalize abortion. Part of the campaign was a “Catholic strategy” to nullify the Church’s opposition to abortion.
“Hearts and minds are changing to the point where abortion is no longer acceptable to many Americans,” she told the Register.
Dr. John Bruchalski, a former abortionist who returned to the Catholic faith also delivered an address.
Rev. Clenard Childress, a Protestant pastor from New Jersey, spoke about how abortion has particularly affected the black community.
Childress noted that while the pro-life movement has made significant strides, “the final surge may prove to be the most difficult.”
“There must be a presence in the public square continually demanding the right to life for the last segment of our society that has been denied access to the American dream,” he said.
A recent Marist poll released last week found that 76 percent of Americans—including 92 percent of Republicans, 78 percent of independents, and 61 percent of Democrats—would restrict abortion to, at most, the first trimester of pregnancy.
Additionally, 51 percent of Americans identify as “pro-choice,” but even 60 percent of those agree with substantial restrictions on abortion.
The poll also finds that 63 percent would prohibit abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, while 60 percent oppose the use of taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.