Thousands of Abortion Foes Stage Rally : Observance: President Bush, in a telephone hookup, offers support to some 70,000 demonstrators on Mall. Event marks 19th anniversary of Roe ruling.

Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators, and a smaller rival group favoring abortion rights, convened Wednesday on the Mall under chilly gray skies to mark the 19th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade ruling, which guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion.

The larger event, sponsored by the National Right to Life Committee, was part picnic and part protest, drawing a placard-waving crowd of young and old from across the country.

“I’m out there with you in spirit,” President Bush said over an amplified telephone hookup to a crowd estimated at 70,000 by U.S. Park Police. The demonstrators, cheering Bush’s brief remarks, said they were optimistic that the Supreme Court was on the verge of altering its Roe decision.

“Roe is dead, and the pro-abortion forces know it,” boasted John L. Taylor, a student at Santa Monica College who flew overnight from Los Angeles to take part in the demonstration with a group called California Collegians for Life.

Some said the upbeat spirit of this year’s March for Life was occasioned by a growing conservative majority on the high court and by a decision of the justices, announced Tuesday, to review a strict Pennsylvania law that may lead them to further restrict or overturn their Roe ruling.

Kate Michelman, head of the National Abortion Rights Action League, which helped organize a counterdemonstration of several hundred persons, agreed with the assessment. “Losing this right is no longer distant and inconceivable--because of President Bush it is immediate and inevitable,” Michelman said.

Rep. Vic Fazio (D-West Sacramento), an advocate of abortion rights, said in a speech on the House floor that the Roe decision “has saved lives and virtually eliminated back-alley abortions.”

Fazio added that “in spite of overwhelming public support for a woman’s right to choose, that right is at risk from a hostile Supreme Court, stacked with anti-choice justices appointed by the Reagan-Bush administrations.”

The abortion rights league hosted a gala Wednesday night that was attended by Democratic presidential contenders.

Bush, in his remarks to anti-abortion forces on the Mall, said: “I admire your conviction and your dedication to the most helpless members of our community. I want to reaffirm my dedication to the simple recognition that all life is a precious gift.”

He added: “We are making progress toward this recognition and I will continue to oppose and fight attempts by Congress to expand federal funding for abortions.”

Meanwhile, a militant wing of the anti-abortion movement known as Operation Rescue tried for the second consecutive day to block entrances at two Washington, D.C., abortion clinics. Police arrested 140 persons for crossing police lines, fined them $50 apiece and released them.

The demonstrators were directed by Randall A. Terry, who led blockades of Wichita, Kan., clinics last summer in violation of a federal court order. A total of 386 protesters were arrested outside Washington clinics on Tuesday.

Those attending the March for Life observance, after hearing speeches on the Mall, marched up Constitution Avenue to the steps of the Supreme Court, carrying placards with such slogans as “Stop Abortion Now” and “The Natural Choice is Life.”

Cindy Hatcher, who said she recently moved to the capital from Texas, came with her 17-month-old son, Travis, in a stroller. “I’m hoping that we’ll get more action very soon,” she said, referring to the court.

Anti-abortion demonstrators also rallied in dozens of other cities Wednesday, including a crowd of 5,000 in Atlanta who heard Roman Catholic Bishop James Lyke declare that the United States has been “torn asunder over a law . . . which makes life cheap.” Many of the marches were accompanied by smaller groups of counterdemonstrators.