Abortion Rights Activists Rally Troops in D. C.

Sheri O’Dell has a burning message to deliver.

Preparing for a massive weekend abortion rights demonstration at which more than 200,000 persons are expected from nearly every state and six foreign countries, O’Dell, a National Organization for Women vice president and march coordinator, says: “We want to deliver a message to all three branches of government that ain’t nobody gonna get away with making abortion illegal again.”

The demonstration, which follows a series of increasingly militant protests by anti-abortion forces, represents an escalation of political warfare as both sides try to influence the Supreme Court’s pending review of its 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion.

Reflecting the intensity of the struggle, an anti-abortion group got a jump on the planned abortion rights event by setting up a symbolic cemetery Wednesday on the Washington Mall, within view of Sunday’s rally site on the Capitol grounds.

Ray Allen, president of the American Coalition for Life, said that 4,400 white wooden crosses planted in the “Cemetery of the Innocents” represent “one day’s abortion death toll in America.” After speeches by Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) and other congressmen, the group began a prayer vigil projected to continue through the weekend.

The National Organization for Women is sponsoring Sunday’s demonstration, with the endorsement of more than 470 national groups, “to show that we who support keeping abortion safe and legal are the overwhelming majority,” according to an advertising flyer.

“People are coming here to say with their feet and their voices that if the court tries to overturn Roe vs. Wade,” O’Dell said, “they’re going to invite massive civil disobedience and open defiance of the law.”

Kate Michelman, executive director of the National Abortion Rights Action League, acknowledged that advocates of giving women a choice between abortion and delivery have been slow to respond to the aggressiveness of the opposition.

As a result, she said, Sunday’s demonstration is but the first of many planned over the next several months “to give the pro-choice majority the ability to stand up and refuse to be bullied and silent any longer.”

Among the hordes streaming into Washington this weekend will be 36 members of the Hollywood Women’s Political Committee, an organization of “the entertainment industry’s most powerful women celebrities and executives,” according to a press release.

Actresses Glenn Close, Susan Sarandon, Kelly McGillis, Cybill Shepherd and others will appear at a news conference Saturday with top leaders of the abortion rights community, including NARAL’s Michelman, NOW President Molly Yard, Planned Parenthood President Faye Wattleton and Voters for Choice board member Gloria Steinem.

Saturday night, the Hollywood delegation will be well represented at a NARAL benefit featuring performances by singers Judy Collins and Melissa Manchester, a reading by novelist Alice Walker, and what Michelman called “an uplifting, powerhouse film in celebration of women and the reproductive rights movement.”

Among others expected to join the delegation are Polly Bergen, Morgan Fairchild, Whoopi Goldberg, Valerie Harper, Leonard Nimoy, Phil Donahue, Marlo Thomas and folk-singers Peter, Paul and Mary.

So many people are headed for the capital this weekend--the annual Cherry Blossom Festival also will be in swing--that all hotels are sold out and numerous churches and private homes are being pressed into service.

“We’ve got over 1,500 buses coming from as far away as Washington state,” NOW’s Sue Mottinger said. “We’ve got chartered planes because the regular airlines are filled. A train from Atlanta is picking up people along the way. About 350 colleges are sending formal delegations. We have delegations from France, West Germany, Canada, Japan, Iceland and Norway.”

Braced for Violence

Police forces of the District of Columbia, the National Park Service and Congress said they are prepared for possible violent confrontations Sunday. But an official of Operation Rescue, the militant anti-abortion group that has tried to shut down abortion clinics in Los Angeles, Washington and other cities, said that no disruptions (“rescues”) are planned.

“We will be holding some signs along the parade route and we’ll go out to the cemetery (on the Mall) for a memorial service Sunday. But we are not having any rescue in the D.C. area,” said Jim Backlin, the group’s director of legislation.

Similarly, the National Right to Life Committee is “not planning any type of counter-activity,” said spokesman Leonard Dinegar. “We had our annual march in January,” a reference to the 16th annual March for Life on Jan. 23, which drew more than 65,000 participants.

During that demonstration, President Bush assailed abortion as a “tragedy” and called for reversal of Roe vs. Wade. The Supreme Court, with its new conservative majority, will hear oral arguments April 26 on a Missouri case that could be used to roll back the landmark decision.

Lobbying Opportunity

Many abortion rights activists plan to stay past Sunday and lobby members of Congress on the stalled equal rights amendment and other women’s issues. Among other things, they seek to liberalize the nearly total ban on federal funding of abortions for poor women and to restore cuts in family planning aid to foreign governments.

“I doubt they’ll influence the court, but they could have some impact on Congress,” said a source close to Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.), author of the amendment that bans federal abortion aid except in cases where the mother’s life is endangered. “They may carve out an exception for rape and incest. . . . Ultimately, the pivotal player will be Bush and his willingness to use the veto.”

NOW’s O’Dell said the marchers’ major goal is to get in a loud word before the Supreme Court begins hearing the Missouri case, Webster vs. Reproductive Health Services.

“Once the lawyers take over, the court closes the door and then nine people in the smallest precinct in America sit down and vote,” she said. “It affects everybody, especially the half that can get pregnant, and we feel this is our one shot in the debate.”