Annual March To Oppose Abortion Quieter Abortion Rights Supporters Decide Not To Hold Counterdemonstration

An annual prayer march Sunday calling for an end to legalized abortion was far quieter than last year’s event.

There were just as many people marching to the Planned Parenthood clinic on East Indiana but, unlike last year, the group found no counter rally to their songs and prayers.

Abortion rights supporters decided they “just wanted to tone things down,” said John Nugent, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Spokane and Whitman counties.

The marches on the clinic have been peaceful since they began two years ago. They mark the Jan. 22, 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as Roe vs. Wade, which legalized abortion.

Last year, about 500 anti-abortion marchers rallied on the sidewalk as roughly 70 supporters of Planned Parenthood stood in the clinic’s parking lot chanting and waving signs.

Except for Nugent, the clinic’s security staff, an unmarked police car and a couple of television news vans, the parking lot was empty on Sunday afternoon.

Sponsored by the Greater Spokane Association of Evangelicals and Lifeline Ministries, “March for Life 1999” changed its format from last year.

After making the 10 minute walk from Fourth Memorial Church on North Standard to the clinic, the crowd turned its back on the building, also hoping to avoid confrontation. Before they had faced the clinic and its vocal supporters.

“We’re here to focus on the Lord and the message. We don’t want to make people in the parking lot the focus,” said Jim Anderson, director of Lifeline Ministries.

Anderson repeatedly told the crowd the message was not just about abortion.

“We are not here to end abortion - it is too small of a goal. We are looking for a spiritual awakening that will change the face of our culture,” he said. “I’m a minister of God working for the revival of our nation.”

While Anderson gave the final speech of the rally, most the speakers were women - a sharp contrast to last year’s march, which was dominated by male speakers.

Those speaking were Julie Mowreader, a member of Harvest Christian Fellowship, Anderson’s 17-year-old daughter, Allison, Leslie McAuley, a member of the soon-to-be-open Word and Fire Ministries and Shirley Reeder, a counselor at Life Services.

The crowd reacted most to Allison Anderson.

“We have to be here continually confronting the gates of hell,” she said, “and Planned Parenthood is one of those gates.”

She urged the group to stand outside the clinic more than just this one day. “We need to come day after day with our families,” she said.

As the women gave their speeches and the crowd sang, Nugent looked on from the entrance to the clinic.

“We chose not to have a counterdemonstration because we are concerned about the escalation of conflict and violence over the past year,” he said.

Nugent cited the bombing of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Ala., last January that killed a security guard and severely injured a nurse. He also mentioned the October murder of a doctor who performed abortions in New York. He was killed by a sniper’s bullet in his home.

“This is really a very basic civil rights dispute,” Nugent said. “Washington voters three times on three initiatives have decided women should be able to make a free decision.”