NEWS

Activists march in Indy to protest abortion

Kara Berg
IndyStar
Anti-abortion activists marched down Meridian Street Jan. 22 to protest against abortion and Roe v.  Wade.

Strings of yellow balloons lined Meridian Street as hundreds of activists marched to protest against abortion.

Right to Life of Indianapolis and Chicago-based Crusaders for Life banded together for a memorial service for aborted fetuses Sunday, which coincided with the 44th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade.

Activists sported signs saying “pray to end abortion,” “abortion is homicide,” “defund Planned Parenthood,” “stop abortion now” and “moms for life” during the march, which took place after a memorial service at the Indiana War Memorial. The march did not attract any visible counterprotest.

Indiana has been at the center of the abortion debate since March 2016 when former Gov. Mike Pence signed a law that made the state’s restrictions some of the strictest in the nation. The law would have restricted abortions based on fetal disability or gender and would have required burial or cremation of remains from an abortion or miscarriage. However, a federal judge suspended the law from going into effect, saying it would likely be found unconstitutional.

This year, one Indiana lawmaker proposed a bill to outlaw and criminalize all forms of abortion. The bill is still in committee in the state House of Representatives.

Marc Tuttle, president of Right to Life of Indianapolis, and Pastor Josiah Trenham from Riverside, Calif., both spoke about the victories new President Donald Trump has achieved, both in his campaign and with his promises to overturn Roe v. Wade. The crowd applauded as Trenham spoke about “eight frightful years” of abortion history under Barack Obama.

But Trenham said the main reason for the memorial and march was to remember each child who was aborted.

“The only reason we’ve tolerated the heinous sin of abortion is because of our own intolerance,” Trenham said. “The day is coming when murder will be done.”

The event memorialized the “devastating effects” of the 1973 Supreme Court ruling — which declared a state law banning abortion unconstitutional — had on the country, Tuttle said.

Mary Fischer (left) holds a sign at a march to protest abortion on Jan. 22. The protest included a march and a memorial for the fetuses who have been aborted.

Right for Life Indianapolis was joined by Crusaders for Life, a Chicago-based youth-led organization that traveled to four cities from Friday through Sunday to show their support for local anti-abortion movements.

Crusaders for Life President Anna Streeter said they wanted to show that a lot of young people are passionate about making abortion illegal.

The group usually attends the March for Life rally in Washington D.C., but decided to stay closer to home this year, hitting St. Louis, Mo., Springfield, Ill., Indianapolis and Chicago.

“We wanted to go to the heart of the country ... somewhere a young pro-life presence hasn’t been yet,” Streeter said. “We really believe in the beauty of life.”

Around 500 people attended the memorial and march, Tuttle said. One of those, Jackie Murphy, a 57-year-old Indianapolis woman, said she wants to see Roe v. Wade overturned because of the horrible events to which it has led.

“It’s worse than any war,” Murphy said. “It’s an atrocity of lost lives of those who can’t speak for themselves. The rights of the unborn are just as important as those who have been born.”

She attended the memorial to pray for the unborn children and to make it known to Indianapolis citizens that abortion is a societal issue that needs to be changed.

During the memorial service, activists set a single red rose in a vase for each year since Roe v. Wade, representing all of the fetuses that have been aborted.

Follow IndyStar reporter Kara Berg on Twitter: @karaberg95.

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