About 30 University students are planning a road trip to Washington, D.C., to participate in the March For Life on the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton – two landmark decisions that overturned laws restricting abortions.
The March For Life is an annual anti-abortion demonstration held on Jan. 22 on the National Mall.
Nellie Gray, March For Life president, said about 100,000 people attended the march last year. About 20,000 people participated in the first march in 1974, which marked the first anniversary of the Supreme Court decisions legalizing abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.
Gray said she does not know how many people will attend this year.
“I never make estimations on how many people will be there because one year we had a snowstorm, and a lot of people couldn’t make it,” she said.
The students plan to leave today and return to Baton Rouge on Jan. 23.
Jim Fontaine, political science and pre-law junior, organized the trip with other students from LSU Students For Life. He was in charge of fundraising for the group.
Fontaine said the group received private donations from anti-abortion organizations and residents of the Baton Rouge area.
Fontaine said some of the people in the group participated in the March For Life in previous years. This will be his first experience with the event.
“It is imperative that we recognize the fundamental human right-to-life from the moment of conception and to stand against activist Supreme Court judges,” he said.
Fontaine said his Catholic faith influenced his decision to be anti-abortion. He said he is anti-abortion because he has a “developed conscience.”
“We learned in science class in high school that human life begins at conception,” he said. “The actual birth of the child is only one of many stages of human life that fall between conception and natural death.”
Jessica Perez, mass communication senior, said it is difficult for many people to imagine being faced with the issue of abortion.
“I think that decision is a personal choice and should not be legislated,” she said.
—–Contact Angelle Barbazon at [email protected]
Group plans anti-abortion D.C. trip
January 19, 2007