SAN FRANCISCO, JAN. 23, 2012 (Zenit.org).- Though the U.S. pro-life movement draws most attention to Washington, D.C., on the anniversary of Roe vs. Wade, the capital march has a sister event on the west coast.
A group estimated at 40,000 gathered in front of San Francisco's City Hall on Saturday and then filled the city's main thoroughfare, walking about two miles down Market Street to the Embarcadero.
"We are here to say life is the choice and women are hurt by abortion," said Dolores Meehan, co-chair of the Walk for Life West Coast, which is held on the Saturday closest to the anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion.
At the rally, Dr. Vansen Wong, an obstetrician-gynecologist, told his story of performing abortions to pay off his medical bills, saying he ended hundreds of lives over the course of seven years working at an evening abortion clinic for his employer.
"Abortion is barbaric, abortion is intolerable," Wong declared. He now works with a pro-life medical clinic where pregnant women receive ultrasounds. "Abortion has no place in any civilized society," the doctor added.
A former Miss West Virginia, Jacquie Stalnaker, told of being forced by her boyfriend to get an abortion,and of the toll it took for 24 years. Stalnaker, who is now a regional representative for the Silent No More Campaign, an organization of women who have had abortions, urged the crowd to get pro-choice friends to visit the group's Web site to hear the stories of women who have had abortions.
Other speakers included Lori Hoye, an African American activist whose mother became pregnant at 15 and whose sister had an abortion, and the Baptist preacher Reverend Clenard Childress who has spoken at seven of the eight walks.
"You are the salt of the earth," Childress told the Walk for Life crowd. "This is more than a pro-life movement. This is a Holy Spirit movement because the Spirit addresses evil."
"We are here to say life is the choice and women are hurt by abortion," said Dolores Meehan, co-chair of the Walk for Life West Coast, which is held on the Saturday closest to the anniversary of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion.
At the rally, Dr. Vansen Wong, an obstetrician-gynecologist, told his story of performing abortions to pay off his medical bills, saying he ended hundreds of lives over the course of seven years working at an evening abortion clinic for his employer.
"Abortion is barbaric, abortion is intolerable," Wong declared. He now works with a pro-life medical clinic where pregnant women receive ultrasounds. "Abortion has no place in any civilized society," the doctor added.
A former Miss West Virginia, Jacquie Stalnaker, told of being forced by her boyfriend to get an abortion,and of the toll it took for 24 years. Stalnaker, who is now a regional representative for the Silent No More Campaign, an organization of women who have had abortions, urged the crowd to get pro-choice friends to visit the group's Web site to hear the stories of women who have had abortions.
Other speakers included Lori Hoye, an African American activist whose mother became pregnant at 15 and whose sister had an abortion, and the Baptist preacher Reverend Clenard Childress who has spoken at seven of the eight walks.
"You are the salt of the earth," Childress told the Walk for Life crowd. "This is more than a pro-life movement. This is a Holy Spirit movement because the Spirit addresses evil."
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