Interview with Nellie Gray, Head of the March for Life Fund
The president of the group that organized the 32nd annual March for Life at the Capitol, Monday, gives her reflection on the rally, walk, and current situation of pro-life America
Thousands of pro-lifers gathered at the nation’s Capitol, Monday, to observe the 32nd annual March For Life, amid blistering cold and blustering wind. The estimated 100,000 plus crowd rallied at the Ellipse, then marched along Constitution Ave. to the Supreme Court, to call against abortion and the infamous Roe v. Wade case that legalized abortion 32 years ago.
Upon the request of Nellie Gray, president of the March for Life Fund, which organized the rally and walk, President George W. Bush joined the star-studded list of pro-life politicians and religious figures who addressed the crowd.
The following is the full text of an interview with Nellie Gray, president of March for Life, held on Tuesday, January 25, 2005:
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What was your assessment of the rally and march. Was it successful?
This was our 32nd annual march, and though we don’t like the fact that Roe v. Wade still exists, we had a good crowd of about 100,000 people. It was an interesting occasion because there was so much snow and bad weather, but the President spoke to us and we successfully walked to the Supreme Court.
What is the greatest difference between this year’s rally and those of the past?
It’s pretty impossible to have something unique when 4,000 unborn children were killed everyday, including that day. The feminist abortionists killed 4,000 while we marched, and because they’ve killed 45 million pre-born children, we told them women are suffering and our whole country is suffering. Pro life people have rallied year after year to show them that no matter what the situation, this agenda in our country is not going away until Roe v. Wade is over.
Something special about this year, however, is that while normally women who had abortion are hurt so badly that they try to be silent about it, there were a couple of groups of women who decided that it was absolutely necessary to stand up and speak about abortion. They talked about the sufferings their bodies and minds went through after the killing of their own child. This was unique: the women were willing to stand now to say feminist abortionists are hurting the country, women, and the future of our nation.
Norma McCorvey, the former Jane Roe in the Roe v. Wade case, filed a petition to invalidate the court ruling done in her favor three decades ago. How did this affect the rally?
We were extremely pleased that Norma McCorvey was with us all day long. They filed the petition with the court earlier, and she was one of our speakers at the rally.
This is more of the indication that the people who once thought intentionally killing babies are good, are now seeing the evil in it.
Many have said the greater involvement of teens and youth at this year’s rally has made the difference. Do you believe this is true?
Yes. There were so many young people, and they were so enthusiastic. We gave them jobs to do, so they were actively involved. Some of the young people carried our lead banner, and others carried our flags. It was interesting to see so many young people there, who not only came, but also participated in everything we did.
Did churches play a large role in the rally?
Absolutely. Everybody is trying to say we are imposing our religion, but we are actually just following our religion and American patriotism. God almightily created man and woman in his own image, and we recognize that. The United States Constitution recognizes that the human being is endowed with a right to life, and of course the churches must be involved in this. We must carry out our patriotism and our love of God almighty through such events.
If anything, I think many more churches should get involved, because many of the churches here [in Washington D.C] are not pro-life.
President Bush addressed the crowd via telephone. Do you feel he was clear in sending out a pro-life message?
We were very very pleased he gave a message, and the message we gave back to him is that while we understand some of the political situations he may face, this issue has gone on for 32 years. It is extremely important that he brought up the whole issue of values at the forefront of his election. As part of that values system, one thing we want is to make sure he makes pro-life appointments. The second point is that we want to see a report produced by his administration on exactly how many tax dollars have been used for abortion, and how many children have been killed by programs administered by the federal government. But President Bush is very pro-life.
