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US-ABORTION-POLITICS-TRUMP
Trump to become first US president to attend March for Life
WASHINGTON, Jan 23, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Donald Trump said Wednesday he plans
to attend the March for Life rally this week and become the first president
ever to address in-person America’s biggest gathering of anti-abortion
activists.
“See you on Friday… Big Crowd!” Trump, who is seeking re-election in
November, tweeted about the procession in Washington.
Abortion rights activists have accused Trump of an anti-abortion agenda,
and they have expressed anxiety that the 1973 Roe v Wade Supreme Court
decision that effectively legalized abortion is under threat.
Last year Vice President Mike Pence attended the March for Life rally,
which is now in its 47th year and designed to protest legalized abortion.
That time, Trump addressed the estimated 100,000-strong gathering with a
video message.
The White House confirmed Wednesday that Trump will become the first
president ever to attend the rally.
The march is usually held around the anniversary of Roe v Wade.
Jeanne Mancini, president of the group that organizes the march, hailed the
news and said Trump has been loyal to the anti-abortion movement. “From the
appointment of pro-life judges and federal workers, to cutting taxpayer
funding for abortions here and abroad, to calling for an end to late-term
abortions, President Trump and his administration have been consistent
champions for life and their support for the March for Life has been
unwavering,” Mancini said.
Although the Supreme Court legalized abortion, opposition to it remains
strong in parts of American society, particularly in the so-called Bible Belt
states of the South and mid-section of the country.
Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to appoint only opponents of abortion to
the Supreme Court, has so far named two of the court’s nine justices.
Their arrival galvanized abortion opponents who are counting on the new
justices to overturn the Roe v Wade decision, or at least allow states to
restrict access to the procedure.
The first big test will occur in March, when the court examines a Louisiana
law whose restrictions on abortion are similar to those of a Texas law that
the court struck down nearly four years ago.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 0745 hrs