450K-500K estimated at 2020 March For Life

A contact Trump 2020 campaign says that the Park Service estimated 450000 – 500000 people participated in the March For Life yesterday. I supposed that number does not the unborn.

It was huge, as large a crowd as I have seen.

Here is the time lapse video.

If you didn’t hear the President’s terrific address, here it is:

Transcript:  With my emphases.

Thank you very much and thank you, Jeanne. It is my profound honor to be the first president in history to attend the March for Life. [applause] We are here for a very simple reason: to defend the right of every child, born and unborn, to fulfill their God-given potential. [applause]

For 47 years, Americans of all backgrounds have traveled from across the country to stand for life.

And today as President of the United States, I am truly proud to stand with you. [applause]

I want to welcome tens of thousands – this is a tremendous turnout – tens of thousands of high school and college students who took long bus rides to be here in our nation’s capital. And to make you feel even better, there are tens of thousands of people outside that we passed on the way in. If anybody would like to give up their spot, we can work it out.

We have a tremendous group of people outside. Thousands and thousands wanted to get in. This is some great success. [applause]

Young people are the heart of the March for Life. And it’s your generation that is making America the pro-family, pro-life nation. [applause]

The life movement is led by strong women, amazing faith leaders, and brave students who carry on the legacy of pioneers before us who fought to raise the conscience of our nation and uphold the rights of our citizens. You embrace mothers with care and compassion. You are empowered by prayer and motivated by your unselfish love. You are grateful and we are so grateful ­­– these are incredible people – to be joined by Secretary Alex Azar and Kellyanne Conway. [applause]

And thanks also to Senators Mike Lee and James Lankford who are here. Thank you, fellas. And Representatives Steve Scalise, Chris Smith, Ralph Abraham, Warren Davidson, Bob Latta, John Joyce, Lloyd Smucker, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Brad Wenstrup. Thank you all. I have to say – and I look at it, and I see it exactly – we have many more politicians in the audience. But if you don’t mind, I won’t introduce them all.

All of us here understand an eternal truth: Every child is a precious and sacred gift from God. [applause] Together, we must protect, cherish, and defend the dignity and the sanctity of every human life. [applause]

When we see the image of a baby in the womb, we glimpse the majesty of God’s creation. [applause] When we hold a newborn in our arms, we know the endless love that each child brings to a family. When we watch a child grow, we see the splendor that radiates from each human soul. One life changes the world – from my family, and I can tell you, I send love, and I send great, great love – and from the first day in office, I have taken historic action to support America’s families and to protect the unborn. [applause]

And during my first week in office, I reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy and we issued a landmark pro-life rule to govern the use of Title X taxpayer funding. I notified Congress that I would veto any legislation that weakens pro-life policy or that encourages the destruction of human life. [applause]

At the United Nations, I made clear that global bureaucrats have no business attacking the sovereignty of nations that protect innocent life. [applause] Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House. [applause]

As the Bible tells us, each person is wonderfully made. [applause]

We have taken decisive action to protect the religious liberty – so important – religious liberty has been under attack all over the world and frankly, very strongly attacked in our nation. You see it better than anyone. But we are stopping it. And we’re taking care of doctors, nurses, teachers, and groups like the Little Sisters of the Poor. [applause]

We are preserving faith-based adoption and to uphold our founding documents, we have appointed 187 federal judges, who apply the Constitution as written, including two phenomenal supreme court justices – Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. [applause]

We are protecting pro-life students’ rights to free speech on college campuses. And if universities want federal taxpayer dollars, then they must uphold your First Amendment right to speak your mind. And if they don’t, they pay a very big financial penalty, which they will not be willing to pay. [applause]

Sadly, the far left is working to erase our God-given rights, shut down faith-based charities, ban religious leaders from the public square, and silence Americans who believe in the sanctity of life. They are coming after me because I am fighting for you and we are fighting for those who have no voice. And we will win because we know how to win. [applause] We all know how to win. We all know how to win. You’ve been winning for a long time. You’ve been winning for a long time.

Together, we are the voice for the voiceless. When it comes to abortion – and you know this, you’ve seen what’s happened – Democrats have embraced the most radical and extreme positions taken and seen in this country for years and decades, and you can even say, for centuries.

Nearly every top Democrat in congress now supports taxpayer-funded abortion all the way up until the moment of birth. Last year, lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb right up until delivery.

Then, we had the case of the Democrat governor in the state of Virginia, the commonwealth of Virginia. And we love the commonwealth of Virginia, but what is going on in Virginia? What is going on? The governor stated that he would execute a baby after birth. You remember that.

Senate Democrats even blocked legislation that would give medical care to babies who survive attempted abortions. And that’s why I’ve called on Congress – two of our great senators here, so many of our congressmen here – I called upon them to defend the dignity of life and to pass legislation prohibiting late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in their mother’s womb. [applause]

This year, the March for Life is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which forever enshrined women’s rights to vote in the United States and given by the United States constitution. Such a big event. Today, millions of extraordinary women across America are using the power of their votes to fight for the right and all of their rights as given in the Declaration of Independence – it’s the right to life. [applause]

To all the women here today, your devotion and your leadership uplifts our entire nation and we thank you for that. The tens of thousands of Americans gathered today not only stand for life – it’s really here that they stand for it so proudly together. And I want to thank everybody for that. You stand for life each and every day. You provide housing, education, jobs, and medical care to the women that you serve. You find loving families for children in need of a forever home. You host baby showers for expecting moms. You make – you just make it your life’s mission to help spread God’s grace.

And to all the moms here today, we celebrate you and we declare that mothers are heroes. [applause] Your strength, devotion, and drive is what powers our nation. Because of you, our country has been blessed with amazing souls who have changed the course of human history.

We cannot know what our citizens yet unborn will achieve. The dreams they will imagine. The masterpieces they will create. The discoveries they will make. But we know this: every life brings love into this world. Every child brings joy to a family. Every person is worth protecting.

And above all, we know that every human soul is divine and every human life, born and unborn, is made in the holy image of Almighty God. [applause]

Together, we will defend this truth all across our magnificent land. We will set free the dreams of our people. And with determined hope, we look forward to all of the blessings that will come from the beauty, talent, purpose, nobility, and grace of every American child.

I want to thank you. This is a very special moment. It’s so great to represent you. I love you all. [applause] And I say with a true passion, thank you, God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you all. Thank you. [applause]

I want to add a comment about that point, above:

This year, the March for Life is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th amendment, which forever enshrined women’s rights to vote in the United States and given by the United States constitution…

That’s well and good.

HOWEVER…

Let us not stray anywhere close to connecting a pro-abortion or pro-life position to women’s rights.   The right to life is NOT A WOMEN’S ISSUE, as voting or equal pay or other issues might be.  The right to life is a CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE before it is a women’s issue.

Terrific speech by the President.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
This entry was posted in Emanations from Penumbras, Fr. Z KUDOS, Our Catholic Identity and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.

11 Comments

  1. Jana Parma says:

    Do you have a URL that give the right estimate of the crowd size? The only web sites I’ve been able to find are saying “tens of thousands” for the crowd size. Obviously, that’s a big understatement. In the comments of various posts some are saying 250,000 which is still low according to your resource. Thank you!

  2. excalibur says:

    Most of what passes for news failed to carry President Trump’s speech.

    But looking back and then seeing what Trump is on the life issue now? “God moves in mysterious way, His wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm.”

    To the ghouls of abortion:

    “When you lift up your hands in prayer, I will not look. Though you offer many prayers, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with the blood of innocent victims”. Isaiah 1:15

  3. TNCath says:

    And Rocco Palmo, arguably the Catholic blogger closest to the American bishops than any other, has yet to mention one word about the March for Life.

  4. Charivari Rob says:

    I was impressed with the little bits I heard and reading more later. Is there any indication of who wrote it?

  5. veritas vincit says:

    I listened to President Trump and most of the other speakers. Several of them mentioned the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment. That seems to have been the theme of the March this year, But defending the right to life helps women as did the right to vote.

    The lie of the abortion rights crowd is that the right to an abortion is a women’ issue.” Rather the right to life, which to women means the right not to be pressured into aborting your child, the right not to see abortion as the easy way out of an unplanned pregnancy, the right to honor the gift of motherhood that God gave you, is fundamentally a women’s issue.

    I know what Father Z means, that the right to life is not the same as the right to vote, to equal pay, etc. I fully agree. It is much more than any of those things to women.

    And of course, in addition, it is also a civil rights issue.

  6. Bernie2020 says:

    What a powerfully symbolic action! The first President to show up at the March for Life!

    Now if only we could have a truly pro-life for the whole life party; the democrats are great for people who are already born: Medicare for All, $15 dollar minimum wage, Green New Deal, etc. It would be lovely if they’d drop Planned Parenthood and go all in on pro-life. But you can’t have everything, I guess.

  7. samwise says:

    “The right to life is a CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE before it is a women’s issue”.

    It also should be a natural law issue instead of a faith issue correct? Although I’m glad people of faith advocate most for life. Gotta start somewhere

  8. tho says:

    No matter what they say about President Trump, since he became our president, he has become a class act. I was going to sign off MAGA 2020, but I thought it might look chintzy.

  9. Sportsfan says:

    This was my 10th time to the march and it was the biggest crowd I have ever seen.
    I’d say 500K is a good estimate.

  10. Pingback: CATHOLIC HEADLINES 1.26.20 – The Stumbling Block

  11. ARAD02 says:

    It was an amazing event. I stood from around 9:45 am until sitting outside of the House of Representatives around 3:45 pm. Boy….was I ready to sit for a minute at the end! :) The crowd was amazing, friendly, cordial and amazing united. And, there was a strong anger among many there. There is a growing divide here in the U.S.A., and many of us are getting tired….angry and tired. You could hear it in the voices of the old, the middle aged, and the young. The fact that not one network bothered to cover this event as any other event of this magnitude is covered is of no surprise. With the global media not covering so many large protests against modernism….and with major tech silencing so many voices….it seems we are now entering into a new age of totalitarianism. There may be a schism coming…but coming in ways no one yet has the foresight to see.

Comments are closed.