March for Life chief on crowd sizes: ‘The only number that I care about…is 58 million’

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In the last seven days the city of Washington has seen three large events attended by hundreds of thousands of people: President Trump’s inauguration last Friday, the Women’s March on Saturday, and the March for Life today. Each group would like the honor of drawing the most people. 

 

But the president of the March for Life said at today's rally there's a number that matters far more.
“There's been a lot of talk about numbers this past week,” Jeanne Mancini told the hundreds of thousands of marchers. “The Women's March has talked about numbers and Facebook likes.”
“But the only number that I care about, and the number that all of us here care about, is 58 million. Since 1973, 58 million Americans have been lost to abortion. We stand here for them today,” she said.
“We stand for the little innocent children who have lost their lives and we stand for their mothers who regret being involved in abortion,” she added.
In 1973, the Supreme Court legalized abortion in Roe v. Wade, a decision that allowed a mother to have her pre-born child destroyed by abortion for practically any reason.
Hundreds of thousands of jubilant pro-lifers attended today’s March for Life, buoyed by the prospect of pro-life gains under the Trump administration. Already in its first week of office, Trump’s administration team has reinstated the “Mexico City Policy” defunding abortions paid by tax-payer funds overseas while Congress has voted to defund abortion on U.S. soil.
In her speech, Mancini said that women who watched the Women’s March last week might have heard the message that pro-life is anti-woman. But she set the record straight, stating that defending the pre-born is pro-woman.
She made a jab at the Women’s March organizers for disinviting pro-life groups from the March, including Abby Johnson’s “And Then There Were None” and “New Wave Feminists."
“Our voice might've been shut out last week, but pro-life is pro-woman,” she said.
“In the words of one of my heroes, Teresa of Calcutta — maybe better known as Mother Teresa — ‘abortion is profoundly anti-woman. Abortion doesn't empower women: choosing life empowers women,’” she said.
Pregnant women who are unable to raise a child can be empowered by choosing to have their child adopted by a loving family.
“Many women have chosen to be birthmothers. They've chosen adoption for their children. And I know that there are many adoptive families, here and watching from home, and they have been blessed by those noble and courageous birth mothers in those decisions,” she said.
Mancini lamented that while there are almost 1 million abortions in the U.S. annually, “there are only 22,000 infant adoptions.”
“That's a problem. We need to do something about that. And we will continue working on that, choosing life, choosing adoption: It's noble and heroic. And the life that these women choose to give has the power to change a family’s life, the power to change the world,” she said.
She encouraged young people attending the March to work towards ending abortion and building a culture of life.
“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. You give me hope. You are the pro-life generation and I believe that you will be the generation that will bring an end to abortion. Your joy, your love, your enthusiasm are exactly what our world needs,” she said.
“You know the theme of the March for life this year is ‘the power of one’: Even the smallest person can change the course of history. Every single one of you has the potential to change the course of history. In fact, you are doing that by being here today,” she added.