By Mars Thera Pope
The march for life started in 1974, the year after the legalization of abortion in Roe v. Wade. The march serves as an act of protest against the Supreme Court’s decision as well as the government funding of institutions that provide abortions among other services, such as Planned Parenthood. The march has been held annually every year. However, 2017 was the first year that a U.S. vice president has ever addressed the march.
Vice President Mike Pence spoke to the marchers on Jan. 27 with pride and enthusiasm. It was no surprise that the crowd applauded and roared at his anti-abortion comments with the signs dancing in the air. Pence was quoted as saying,“That is evident in … the historic election of a president … who I proudly say stands for the right to life.” The crowd cheered again, all ignoring the woman who carry said life.
President Trump just last week reinstated a ban on U.S. funding to nongovernmental organizations overseas that offer a wide range of family-planning and reproductive-health options, if they include abortion.
The anti-abortion movement is lively and moving quickly. With a Republican majority in both houses and a Republican president, the only puzzle piece that has yet to appear is a conservative Supreme Court justice. If Trump moves according to plan, which so far he has, there soon will be a conservative Supreme Court justice.
There is nothing wrong in there being a conservative justice, just as there is nothing wrong with a Republican president or a Republican Congress. Yet, eyebrows should rise when one of the two main political parties in this country seem to have obtained a frightening grasp on our nation’s government.
It is intriguing that in the recent election, individuals of both parties have switched up a little bit. Republicans voted Democratic and Democrats voted Republican. With the remaining nominees, the old Republican Party was left divided because not everyone was a fan of Trump’s ideas and character. When it comes to abortion, though, nearly all Republicans agree.
S.F. 2 advanced in the Iowa Senate just last week. The Senate file is a bill to defund organizations that provide abortions among other family-planning and health services. If the bill is passed, there will no longer be government funding for organizations such as Planned Parenthood. These organizations offer more than just abortions. They offer birth control, HIV testing, LGBT services, STD testing, treatment, and vaccines. Organizations such as Planned Parenthood can drastically affect people’s lives in a positive way, and they can keep doing so as long as they continue to be funded.
The fight over the legality of abortions is an old and tired one. People’s stances on the issue are deeply rooted in their values. Values don’t change, but minds do. A Republican values life, so can that be applied to the women’s life? — a life that could be negatively affected as a result of not being able to have an access toreproductive health care, abortions being just a small part of this. Activists on both sides cannot go into this expecting to change the other side’s beliefs, but they can learn how to appeal to the other side’s morals. Marching together is more effective than marching apart.