Two days before the 34th anniversary of Roe v Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court case that legalized abortion, 25,000 pro-life advocates walked the streets of San Francisco in the third annual Walk for Life West Coast. “San Francisco is well-known for its counter-cultural protests—the Gay Pride Parade, anti-war protests, and anti-Bush protests,” said Dolores Meehan, co-founder of Walk for Life West Coast. “We wanted to send a message that it's OK to be pro-woman and pro-life—even in the city of San Francisco.” Participants walked along the San Francisco Waterfront to the Marina Green. Before the walk, crowds listened to speakers including pastor Clenard Childress Jr., regional director of the Life Education and Resource Network (LEARN); Talitha Phillips of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign; and the Rev. Frank Pavone, national director of Priests for Life. “Walk for Life's primary goal is to reach out to women and men of all political persuasions with the message that abortion hurts all women,” said Eva Muntean, Walk for Life co-founder. San Francisco is also the congressional district of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “Speaker Pelosi now has a greater responsibility to serve as a role model for all women in America, not just in San Francisco,” Meehan said. “She must no longer ignore pro-life women. Many of us share the same Catholic faith, and we hope as speaker [of the House], Pelosi will bring a broader perspective to women's issues.”–Felicia Mann
Photo: Copyright 2007 R. Jeffery Grace
