Activists gather on the stage and on the streets at March for Life

Published: 2008-01-22

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Amid the usual Knights of Columbus "Defend Life" signs and the throngs of school and parish groups at the 35th annual March for Life Jan. 22, Mark Hall's mobile ultrasound clinics parked on Sixth Street were an unusual new addition. Hall and three other people drove up from Orlando, Fla., with a specially outfitted RV and a trailer that they more typically park outside abortion clinics, offering women a last chance to take a look through ultrasound at the fetal life they intend to end. With a location in Washington right behind the stage for the rally that preceded the march, Hall and the "Messengers of Hope," as they call themselves, were attracting a lot of attention from some of the tens of thousands of people from around the country who gathered on the National Mall before marching up Capitol Hill to the Supreme Court. On the stage, March for Life organizer Nellie Gray introduced a long program of politicians, clergy and other anti-abortion activists who helped warm up a crowd shivering in freezing temperatures and light drizzle.

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