On April 25, Washington, D.C. was the venue of the March for Women’s Lives, a pro-abortion event. The day before the march there was a rally in front of the Vatican embassy. This event was organized by Frances Kissling of Catholics for a Free Choice.
Of course, no pro-abortion series of events would be complete without a rally bashing the Catholic Church. This time the bigots enlisted the support of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights. But it wasn’t much of a coalition: Jewish organizations comprised 54 percent of the co-sponsors; Unitarian Universalist groups constituted another 16 percent. On the other hand, support came from the Episcopal Church, USA; the United Church of Christ; Presbyterian Church USA; and the United Methodist Church. We told the media that “We hope all Catholics take note of who their friends are.”
Three days before the march, we offered the following comment in a news release: “It would be a mistake to think that all of these people are simply pro-choice. Kissling has flatly said that her organization would ‘never refer to abortion as evil.’ Daniel Maguire, a professor at a Catholic university (Marquette), says abortion can even be understood as ‘a holy choice, a sacred choice’; he plans to march. New York Planned Parenthood guru Alexander Sanger, who would never miss a death march, even wrote a book arguing that abortion is a positive good. Their honesty is refreshing.”
Many female celebrities marched in the pro-abortion rally. Included were some who have had abortions (e.g. Whoopi Goldberg has had six or seven abortions and she marched). Not one of them, quite naturally, condemned the anti-Catholic rally that took place the day before the march. At that rally, Kissling slammed the Vatican and the Bush administration for opposing so-called reproductive rights.
Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, dubbed the march “non-partisan.” But there was no need to lie: it was well-reported that the Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed John Kerry the Friday before the Sunday march.
