Just wondering if there were any other Dopers in the crowds marching around DC yesterday?
I’m not sure exactly how many people were there, and news reports have given figures ranging from 500,000 to 1.1 million, so i think it’s unlikely that we’ll ever have a really accurate number. Suffice to say, my own official count arrived at the figure “a whole big shitload of people.”
So, did anyone else make it?
Oh yeah, me and a couple hundred of my comrades were there. I know as well as the next guy that crowd estimates are always anyone’s guess, but the effort Planned Parenthood put into actually counting attendees by having them sign up on information sheets would, I think, lend a little more credibility to their claim of close to a million, if not over.
For those playing at home, here is a shot of the crowd from what I would guess is the top of the Washington Monument. Compare that shot with this satellite photo of the area and you’ll see just how packed it really was.
I would have been there for the pro-life side if I had had the money for a trip.
Several of my pals were there with http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org/
and said that it wasn’t for the weak-hearted. 
IMHO, lavenderviolet, if you’re against abortion, by no means should you have one. But that doesn’t mean you should deny that choice to every woman.
I see nothing but good things for this thread.
(Copied from Silent No More’s website)
“This campaign creates a safe place for women to break their silence about the pain of abortion. It is an honor to speak the truth and let others know they’re not alone.”
Since when has it been risky for people to speak out against abortion? I mean, what are they risking? Just because most people don’t agree with them doesn’t mean it’s dangerous… I don’t get it.
I wasn’t there physically, but I support the right to choose. With words and money.
Hey now, the original OP was a poll of people who were there. I don’t want anyone afraid to answer on this board, because I’m curious about all the experiences. Hearing the tale of one of a few hundred anti-abortion protestors in a crowd of 500,000 opposed to her viewpoint would be pretty interesting reading.
Still, not going doesn’t count. I live in DC, am for women’s rights, and I didn’t go. I’m a schmuck. Especially since people came from other continents.
Are you kidding? You can’t come up with a single reason why women who have had abortions (and had negative experiences with that abortion) would seek a safe place to talk about their pain? You can’t imagine a single possible risk they might face?
Good lord.
Munch, the description of this forum does say
I suppose the actual less-than-cosmic topic here would be whether people should have attended or not, but if those on the opposing side are going to link to their sites, I fail to see how a frank exchange of views on the broader subject itself would be out of place. I hope nobody thinks I’m actually trying to prevent lavenderviolet from speaking his/her mind in here, either.
And yeah, Rysler, yeah, you should definitely have come, if only to draw from the serious energy the rally was putting out. It was a beautiful thing.
Of course it’s not out of place. But quoting a very tiny part of the website, incorrectly interpreting it, and offering a BS assessment of that quote is not a “frank exchange of views on the broader subject itself”.
Care to answer my question?
Crap - I confused Olentzero with Kalhoun. Apologies all around.
Well, i did start this thread simply to find out how many Dopers were in DC at the march, whether for or against the main theme of the protest. If people want to turn the thread into a debate over abortion rights, knock yourselves out. I claim no particular ownership over this thread. Let’s just try to keep it a bit civil, so we don’t get carried off to the Pit.
On the general temper of the march, i found that it was good-natured and, for the most part, rather non-confrontational. Most marchers just walked by the anti-aborition protestors, sometimes increasing the volume of chanting as they went by. A few got into heated, face-to-face yelling matches, which has always struck me as rather unproductive. Surely if experience in the fight over abortion has taught us anything, it’s that you’re not likely to change someone’s mind by yelling at them and calling them an idiot (and this applies to both sides).
It’s interesting that lavenderviolet says that the experience was not for the “weak-hearted.” The Silent No More website promised exactly this before the event, implying in the process that people who oppose Bush and the Iraq war are, by their very nature, scary and intimidating people:
That’s a pretty disingenuous characterization of anti-Bush and anti-war people and, by association, of abortion rights advocates. While there were surely a few aggressive people in the crowds, what stood out most to me was how peaceful, patient and cheerful a group of half a million protestors can be.
And it’s also a little disingenuous of anti-abortion protestors to complain about confrontational tactics when they are holding signs with pictures of aborted fetuses, and addressing people as murderers.
As one of my favorite signs said:
“I’m aware of what a fetus looks like. And i still support a woman’s right to choose.”
Anyhow, if anyone’s interested, i’ve posted on the web some pictures i took at the march.
What…are they bombing the anti-abortion clinics now?
Those are awesome pictures, mhendo.
I didn’t go due to the fact I live in Ireland now, but I was at the one 12 years ago, which was so crowded it took about five minutes to walk about five feet.
Well done to those who went though, and I hope its objectives are achieved. On this island there’s still a long way to go 
Do you equate “risk” with, and only with, bodily harm?
Well, as you’re the one who’s so convinced that women who regret their abortions have something to be afraid of, perhaps you’d care to provide us with some examples of what you’re talking about?
Thanks, Rysler. Glad you enjoyed them.
Well, for one thing…the website uses the word “safe”, not “risk.” That suggests bodily harm. And I’d like to see the massive numbers of women who feel they are at “risk” or un-“safe” with regard to a change of heart about abortion. It’s their business to discuss it or not. It is a private affair.
It is one thing for a woman to experience regret over a choice she has made; it is another thing entirely to use that regret as a base for advocacy that no woman should have that choice.
My sister became pregnant as a result of a date rape while on a study-abroad program in Australia when she was in high school. They sent her home, of course; and she had our mom take her to the clinic as soon as she could to terminate the pregnancy. Now, fifteen years later, she’s got a bachelor’s in journalism, is happily engaged to a man of whom she thinks the world, and if she ever wonders what her life would have been like had she brought the pregnancy to term (and I’ve never heard her do so), it would definitely have been found wanting in comparison to the life she has now, full of bumps as it is.
If you tried to tell her she shouldn’t have that option available to her because some women experienced regret at some point after having aborted a pregnancy, I can guarantee you she’d have a few choice words for you that would quite violate any standards of journalistic conduct you could name.
I’m merely saying that it borders on the dramatic to say that they need a “safe” place to discuss the fact that they regret their abortions. It’s safer for them to discuss regretful abortions than it is for me to drive to work each day. Yet I survive. It was not a “BS assessment”, as you call it. It was a direct quote from the site and my opinion is that these women feel guilty for their decision, but are probably not facing much risk in discussing it. The violent anti-abortion supporters will be glad they regret it. It’s more ammunition for their cause. The pro-choice side never told them to get abortions in the first place, so where’s the conflict so great that they need a “safe” place to discuss it?