Pro-Life Demonstrators Pick New Location For 'March For Life'
DENVER (CBS4) - More than 100 people gathered in East Denver Saturday morning to protest abortion, and for the first time in more than 40 years the annual March for Life was not outside the state Capitol.
"Why not have it at a place where we can call witness against the people who are actually killing children," Biff Gore, president of Colorado Right to Life, told CBS4.
Instead, about 150 anti-abortion protesters brought their message to the gates of the Planned Parenthood near 38th Avenue and Pontiac Street.
"Our job today is to encourage people to protect human life, the dignity of human life, at every stage of development," Gore said.
Several protesters held signs with phrases like, "Abortion is murder," and "Make Life Great Again." Other protesters lined the street with graphic images or messages against Planned Parenthood.
"We don't know what these wonderful babies would have done if they could be born," protester Kathryn Lewis said. "This is not right because they're killing human beings."
Denver's rally came one day after a March for Life in Washington, D.C. The large crowd made its way down the National Mall to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to mark the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling which legalized abortion. Vice President Mike Pence spoke at the rally, becoming the first vice president ever to do so.
"Life is winning again in America," Pence said Friday. "We will not rest until we restore a culture of life in America for ourselves and for posterity."
Colorado legalized abortion in 1967 and places like Planned Parenthood have served thousands of women ever since. According to Whitney Phillips, Senior Director of Strategic Communication and Marketing for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, Planned Parenthood serves 70,000 patients every year, providing lifesaving cancer screenings, annual wellness exams and contraception.
"They come to us for a reason," Phillips told CBS4's Kelly Werthmann. "We're known as reproductive health experts and they come to us for high quality, compassionate health care. And the folks outside don't always realize that about seven out of 10 Americans support a woman's right to choose right now."
Yet the pro-life supporters who gathered outside for more than three hours Saturday said that choice is deceptive. Organizers said they would continue to be a voice for those not born.
"These babies have no voice, they really have no choice," Gore said. "They are a separate human life. Their mothers are simply incubating them."
In a tweet Friday, President Donald Trump said March for Life has his "full support."
Kelly Werthmann joined the CBS4 team in 2012 as the morning reporter, covering national stories like the Aurora Theater Shooting and devastating Colorado wildfires. She now anchors CBS4 Weekend Morning News and reports during the week. Connect with her on Facebook or Twitter @KellyCBS4.
