Like thousands of other opponents of abortion who marched on Washington on Friday, Mary Cay Andrikidis had a little extra bounce in her step knowing that the Trump administration is behind the cause.
And for the first time in the March for Life’s history, the vice president was there himself to say so.
Andrikidis, 71, of Florence, said she and about 240 other supporters of Massachusetts Citizens for Life boarded four buses that left from Chicopee bound for the nation’s capital Thursday night.
The inaugural March for Life — a march and demonstration for opponents of abortion — was in 1974, a year after the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade was handed down, which made a woman’s right to an abortion the law of the land.
This year was the second time Andrikidis attended the demonstration.
“I’m not anti-abortion, I’m pro-life,” she said in telephone interview after the march on Friday. “I wanted to give witness to a pro-life culture, because in many ways, we are not … Really what I want to get across is that a baby in the womb should be as safe as any person on this earth.”
Back in Massachusetts, Peggy Bradford, who is director of field operations for Massachusetts Citizens for Life, said this year’s march was special in that preliminary reports suggested that the event’s attendance may have been one of its largest yet.
“I think it’s been a steady witness that we’re not going to give up, that we’re going to work hard and diligently until we can overturn Roe v. Wade (and) to show support to other pro-lifers in the country that they’re not standing alone,” she said in a phone interview with the Gazette Friday night.
Bradford, of Springfield, wasn’t able to attend this year but said she’s participated in March for Life 20 or so times in the past.
Also on one of the buses was Tim Biggins, who chairs the pro-life commission for the Diocese of Springfield. Like Andrikidis, this was his second time at the March for Life. The march, he said, “establishes a great amount of hope.”
“There were a lot of young people there,” added Biggins, of East Longmeadow. “It’s good to see all these young people down there. It just sends a message of hope … it’s a very uplifting experience.”
Meanwhile, state Sen. Donald Humason, R-Westfield, who was not in D.C. Friday, said in an interview he supports those who attended and that he was eager to see how the conversation surrounding the hot-button issue unfolds.
“How do we have this conversation without getting up and angry at each other?” Humason wondered aloud.
“I don’t want to take away anybody’s rights,” Humason said. “We’re about children, about protecting babies. They’re the most innocent of all … They’re valuable (and) they’re worth protecting.”
At the march, Andrikidis said she was able to secure a spot up front near where the event’s speakers addressed thousands who gathered near the Washington Monument. The speakers included Vice President Mike Pence — the first sitting vice president to do so — and counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway.
Pence told those gathered that this administration was dedicated to putting an end to taxpayer funding of abortion procedures and providers, according to the Washington Post.
“We will not grow weary,” Pence said during the address, as reported by the Post. “We will not rest, until we restore a culture of life in America for ourselves and our posterity,”
Andrikidis said she was excited at the implication the new administration was behind her cause.
“What we’re hoping for the future is that, if women would feel like they had to choose abortion … that they would choose adoption or choose to have their babies and raise it themselves,” she said. “What I’m looking for is to win hearts and minds over to the idea.”