
A little over two dozen people – mostly women – with the anti-abortion group Students for Life gathered outside the Supreme Court with the aim of opposing abortion while also supporting women’s rights.
Some women’s marchers gawked at they group as they marched towards the Capitol, while others staged nonviolent counter protests.
Michele Hendrickson, 31, leads the group’s Eastern Regional Director. “It’s a woman’s march, we are pro-women and pro-life. Pro-life women have been left out today,” she said. She said her group believes that a woman’s rights start at the moment of conception.
She said she the group disagreed with the Women’s March having abortion access listed as one of their planks.
Hendrickson said the group is nonpartisan. “We’re not here on a political stance, or Trump.” Though she noted that they planned to hold him to account on his promise to defund Planned Parenthood and roll back Roe v Wade.
“Abortion is the ultimate exploitation of women, abortion is used as a tool to oppress women,” said Lisa Twigg, 28, from Spotsylvania, VA. She said she considers herself a feminist and believes women are equal to men, but said that women had been “tricked” into thinking that they had to choose between having a baby and a career.
Twigg said she did not vote for Trump but planned to “hold him accountable” when it came to respecting women.
Beth Rahal, 26, from Lancaster PA is the on campus director for Students for Life. She said that giving pregnant women assistance with housing, schooling, and money was a better alternative to abortion. She said abortion was a “violence” against women.