Mike Pence fires up anti-abortion activists in March for Life
Updated
US Vice-President Mike Pence has addressed crowds gathered for the annual March for Life, saying ending taxpayer-funded abortion and choosing a Supreme Court justice who will uphold "God-given" liberties are among the new administration's top priorities.
Key points:
- Pence tells March for Life rally that "life is winning again in America"
- Says Trump will nominate a Supreme Court justice who will uphold "God-given liberties"
- Number of US abortions has fallen to a record low
Mr Pence is the first sitting Vice-President to address the march. He was accompanied by his wife and daughter.
"Life is winning again in America," Mr Pence told the demonstrators at the National Mall, near where Donald Trump was sworn in a week ago before hundreds of thousands.
"It's the best day I've ever seen for the March for Life."
Mr Pence accused the Supreme Court of turning "away from these timeless ideals" in the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade decision that legalised abortion.
Mr Pence is a longtime hero of the anti-abortion movement and as governor of Indiana, he signed what were seen as some of the nation's strictest abortion laws.
One of Mr Trump's first acts after taking office a week ago was to sign an executive order banning US aid to foreign groups that provide abortions, and Mr Pence said more such action would follow.
He said the President would "work with the Congress to end taxpayer funding of abortion and abortion providers, and we will devote those resources to health care services for women across America".
A budget provision known as the Hyde Amendment already bans federal funding for Medicaid coverage of most abortions.
Conservatives would like to see the rule made into a permanent law.
Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress have vowed to end federal funding for Planned Parenthood, which provided more than a third of the nation's abortions in 2014.
They also hope to ban most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Mr Trump has pledged to sign both measures if they reach his desk.
The Vice-President also said Mr Trump will nominate a Supreme Court justice next week who "will uphold the God-given liberties enshrined in our Constitution".
The March for Life is usually held on the anniversary of the January 22, 1973 Supreme Court decision, but it was pushed back this year because of the inauguration.
There were no official crowd estimates but lines of school groups and people from across the country waited to get through security checkpoints near the Washington Monument and within sight of the White House.
Protesters held signs saying "Choose life," "I am the pro-life generation," and "Equal Rights For Unborn People".
The President's senior aide Kellyanne Conway also addressed the demonstrators before the march.
"We hear you. We see you. We respect you," she said.
Abortion rates falling
Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life, suggested many voters chose Mr Trump mainly because he had pledged to appoint a Supreme Court justice who shared their views on abortion, even if they disagreed with him on other issues.
"I don't identify as a Republican or a Democrat, but I do vote pro-life," she said.
The March for Life came less than a week after one of the largest mass demonstrations in the history of the nation's capital, the Women's March on Washington, which drew more than half a million people opposed to Mr Trump on issues including abortion.
Americans remain deeply divided on the issue — the most recent Gallup survey on abortion, released last year, found that 47 per cent of Americans described themselves as pro-abortion rights and 46 per cent as anti-abortion.
It also found 79 per cent believed abortion should be legal in either some or all circumstances.
Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said Republicans were taking actions that would result in more illegal abortions and deaths of pregnant women.
"The vast majority of Americans support Roe v Wade and support the legal right to abortion," she said.
Abortion opponents were heartened by a recent study that found the number of abortions in the US dropped below 1 million in 2014, the lowest total in 40 years.
The report by the Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights, credited increased access to birth control but also a surge in abortion restrictions in many states.
AP/ Reuters
Topics: abortion, religion-and-beliefs, rights, women, world-politics, united-states
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