At 6 a.m. yesterday morning, the prolifers from Rockland boarded the bus at St. Francis Church in West Nyack and joined the thousands who were converging on Washington, D.C., for the 44th annual March for Life.

The March is held each year on or around Jan. 22 to commemorate the day in 1973 when the Supreme Court legalized abortion in America in the Roe v. Wade decision. This year the March was scheduled for Jan. 27 because of the inauguration.

Under cool but sunny skies in Washington, our group unfurled the Rockland Right to Life banner and set up on the Washington Monument hill, a location that provided a panoramic view of the thousands of enthusiastic marchers who had come for the Rally at the National Mall, featuring speakers Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, and Vice Pres. Mike Pence. This was the first time a vice president had ever addressed a March for Life Rally, and Pence, a longtime prolife congressman in Washington, was visibly moved by the occasion and assured the people that now “Life was winning again in America.”

He was referring to the rise of the prolife movement which was instrumental to the election of Donald Trump, who has promised, as president, to sign legislation to defund Planned Parenthood if it continues to fund abortion and to name prolife justices to the Supreme Court. Pres. Trump has already issued an executive order prohibiting  U.S. foreign aid from going to organizations abroad that perform abortions.

Watch Pence’s speech here. It will also give you an idea of what the crowd was like.

And don’t miss this. The knock-out speech by Rep. Mia Love, from Utah. Wow!!!

The Rally ran a little late — apparently due to security protocols regarding the arrival/departure of the Vice President, and before the March officially got underway  a couple of tens of thousands of marchers started to head out down Constitution Avenue on their own. From that point until the last of the marchers finally arrived at the Supreme Court — nearly four hours — the march route was jammed with the men, women, and children of all ages, and many, many young people.

How many were there?  That’s been a point of contention for years. That National Park Service does not provide an official estimate. And comparing the numbers of the March for Life to the Women’s March on Washington last week is like comparing apples and oranges. Although one of the “premier partners” of the Women’s March was Planned Parenthood, the marchers, united by a disappointment in the election of Donald Trump, represented a wide range issues (see partner list here).

The March for Life, on the other hand, for 44 years has proudly committed to one thing: restoring legal protection to the unborn. And as a pro-lifer quoted in the New York Times this morning said, “We know what we’re about. This march isn’t about us.”

One last thing — not suggesting that the liberal media has changed its spots, but there was remarkable  coverage of the March for Life  in the New York Times and USA Today this morning, and it was pretty balanced. Hopefully, they’ve come to realize that one of the consequences of shutting your eyes to reality is you miss the fact that not all of America thinks the way you do — and you wind up not only “missing the story” but with an election night “surprise” that jerks your head right out of the sand.

Photos courtesy of Frank Wong and Peter Partridge. Please click on a photo to enlarge it and then scroll through the slide show.