WASHINGTON, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- Thousands of abortion rights demonstrators marched on the Washington Mall Monday to protest the U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal.
Protesters gathered on the Ellipse south of the White House and marched to the Supreme Court building. The annual demonstration also pulls abortion rights supporters.
President George W. Bush participated in the event via telephone from Manhattan, Kan., where he was about to deliver a speech. Bush said that principles from the Declaration of Independence "call us to defend the sick and the dying, persons with disabilities and birth defects, all who are weak and vulnerable, especially unborn children."
He thanked those who worked to get a so-called partial-birth abortion bill passed and said the Senate needs to act on a House-passed bill that concerns minors who are taken across state lines for an abortion and parental involvement laws.
It was 33 years ago Sunday that the Supreme Court handed down its Roe v. Wade decision that held that the right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy and was protected by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
