Protests and prayers

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Thursday the 5th of May, 2022.

You’re listening to World Radio and we thank you for listening. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: And I’m Myrna Brown. First up on The World and Everything in It: protests and prayers outside the Supreme Court.

REICHARD: …as you’d expect. After the draft opinion in the Dobbs v. Jackson case leaked on Monday night, pro-abortion protesters immediately started to organize. The next day, they held rallies in cities across the country.

Pro-life groups have taken a more cautious approach, given that the leaked draft is just that—a draft.

The draft indicates the court is poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, but it’s not a final opinion and so the matter is not yet settled.

BROWN: Still, that didn’t stop pro-lifers from engaging abortion supporters with their perspective on a post-Roe future. WORLD Digital reporter Carolina Lumetta traveled to Washington, D.C. Tuesday to check out the protests outside the Supreme Court. Here’s some of what she heard.

AUDIO: Shame, shame!
[Speaker bashing pro-lifers moving to chants…]
Who’s streets? Our streets!

REICHARD: In between the pro-abortion speakers, a few pro-lifers tried to engage with the protesters.

AUDIO: [Pro-abortion activists arguing with a pro-lifer]

The woman who came to this man’s defense wasn’t planning to join the rally. Her name is Michele. She’s an 18-year-old college freshman.

MICHELE: I was actually not expecting to come. I was walking home from getting groceries and this is my commute home. So… I was really just listening. I saw a lot of people gathering around that poor guy and I was just like [groans]. And I wasn’t really sure like what the beginning of the conversation started with, so I didn’t really want to speak to something like they’d already discussed but like they said something I had experienced. I was raised in a Catholic school and so when they say something, they’re speaking for a whole group, that I didn’t experience, I felt the need to just say, hey, you’re wrong. I just want to let you know. [laughs]

BROWN: Michele attended the rally outside the Supreme Court in December when justices heard oral arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson. And even though she wasn’t planning to stop at Tuesday’s event, she’s encouraged by what the leaked opinion might mean.

MICHELE: I’m hopefully optimistic. I’m praying hard that that is the decision that goes, that carries through to the end. I do know that with it being leaked it was most likely an attempt to intimidate some of the justices into changing their minds. I hope that that doesn’t happen. I pray that that doesn’t happen.

Speaker: When human rights are under attack, what do we do?
Crowd: Stand up, fight back! Stand up, fight back!
Speaker: When abortion rights are under attack, what do we do?
Crowd: Stand up, fight back! Stand up, fight back!

Abortion supporters outnumbered pro-lifers during Tuesday’s rally, but Michele says she’s not intimidated.

MICHELE: I know that we do hold the silent majority in America and that the majority of America is pro-life, or does support some restrictions on abortion, whether it’s at a certain age or stage of life. And so I really do believe that the majority of these people are all bark and no bite. They can scream in my face all day long. It’s not going to change the fact that I know that I’m right and whether this was in a different time in history, this would be seen very, very differently, I hope, 50, 60, 75 years down the line.

REICHARD: Michele compared abortion to slavery and noted at one time, a vocal group of influential Americans thought that was OK, too. She says she’s praying for a time when, just like slavery, abortion is recognized for what it is.

MICHELE: I think that abortion is an evil and it’s something that can be avoided entirely. And I don’t really see a reason to have this in the 21st century with the medical devices that we have, with the science that we know, and with the resources that we can obtain.

During Tuesday night’s rally, a group of 13 students from The Catholic University of America knelt to pray. A crowd of abortion supporters soon surrounded them.

AUDIO: [Yelling, swearing]

BROWN: They jeered and shouted profanities at the praying students for about 15 minutes. The students said they faced the same abuse the night before.

STUDENT: I mean, we figured we’d just go there and say our piece, which is just praying. Because a lot of this conflict and division is not going to, I would like to see a lot of that solved by dialog. But I think we saw tonight, that doesn’t really happen, so we just hope in prayer. Honestly, there’s not a lot of things. There’s not a lot of things that can hold this country together and it seems like God is one of the last things on that table.

REICHARD: To read more of Carolina Lumetta’s ongoing coverage of the reaction to the anticipated verdict in Dobbs v. Jackson, visit WNG.org.

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