Politics

Virginia pro-life rally urges attendees to support pro-life candidates

Matthew Boyle Investigative Reporter
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FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA. – Pro-lifers called for immediate action on behalf of their concerns at a rally organized by Pro-Life Unity in Fairfax County, Va., Saturday.

The rally’s speakers asked the crowd of about 100 anti-abortion activists to continue fighting Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortions nationwide, and to make sure they support and vote for pro-life candidates in next week’s midterm elections as well as in Virginia’s state government elections in November 2011. Speakers also encouraged attendees to get involved in their communities, especially with getting the pro-life message out to young people.

“What I see when I look at this group of people is the ‘worker bees,’” Virginia Society for Human Life President Olivia Gans told the crowd. “You’re the ones who actually get things done.”

Gans reeled off a few Virginia House races pro-lifers should pay particularly close attention to, including congressional races in the 2nd, 5th, 9th, and 11th districts. She also noted that her organization has already endorsed, among other candidates statewide, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor, who is running for reelection in Virginia’s 7th district.

Pro-Life Unity’s Peter Shinn said a major focus of the pro-life movement has to be attracting young people because they are not yet been influenced by pro-choice propaganda.

“The young people haven’t been completely polluted yet,” Shinn told The Daily Caller. “Their minds haven’t been covered with the fog of abortion and a lot of them have actually been saved in the first place by parents who recognize abortion is wrong to begin with – so they grow up in it.”

Also speaking at the rally, and clearly a crowd favorite, was George Washington – or at least a guy dressed up like him – who called on ralliers to “protect the unborn millions.”

Missy Smith, a Republican running to unseat Democratic Washington D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, focused her speech on the importance of forcing pro-choice individuals to see images of abortion, including dead fetuses and the dirty aftermath of an abortion. Smith is running her campaign on an anti-abortion platform – and is using election-related advertising laws to be able to broadcast the extremely graphic images to voters.

To back her case for showing the graphic advertisements, she quoted Father Frank Pavone of Priests For Life, a pro-life clergy organization, as saying, “America will not reject abortion until America sees abortion.”

Frederick Douglas Foundation Vice Chairman Dean Nelson said pro-lifers need to treat abortions as the worst possible kind of civil rights violation because unborn children do not have a voice.

“When I was a student at UVA [the University of Virginia], I recognized there was no greater civil rights cause than the cause of the unborn,” Nelson said.