Despite the cold and an incoming blizzard, tens of thousands of Americans gathered together from across the country Friday to speak out for the nearly 60 million babies destroyed by abortion. But will journalists report those numbers? Short answer: probably not.
The 2016 March for Life took place in Washington, D.C. on the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. This year, the annual march stressed the theme “Pro-life and Pro-woman Go Hand-in-Hand.”
While temperatures plummeted to below freezing and D.C. declared a state of emergency, Americans marched on in the name of the most vulnerable: the unborn.
MRC Culture captured those marchers on camera:
There were fewer participants than years past, but tens of thousands still attended the march, according to March for Life organizers – as visible in the video.
“We were extremely pleased with what appeared to be tens of thousands of Americans who came together to celebrate life today despite the weather conditions,” said Jeanne Mancini, President of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, in a statement to MRC Culture. “Today we proved our commitment to this cause, and protecting all life, especially for the unborn.”
But journalists, such as the Washington Post’s Michelle Boorstein, didn’t reflect that in their reporting.
The Post headline for her story read, “As DC shuts down for a blizzard, a small, faithful crowd still joins the March for Life.”
Boorstein found the event “inspiring” and repeatedly highlighted the “much-reduced size” and the “dramatically smaller” crowds that she estimated to be “in the thousands.”
The broadcast networks and news outlets have long misrepresented the March for Life. In response, the Media Research Center, along with other organizations, recently formed an Alliance for Fair Coverage of Life Issues to hold the media accountable.
