Huge pro-life rally

again anticipated for

'Portland's living room'

      PORTLAND — In keeping with a recent policy of alternating Oregon’s largest annual pro-life rally between two of the state’s largest cities, the event returns this month to the Rose City’s “living room” —Pioneer Courthouse Square — on Sunday, Jan. 22.
     Coordinated by Oregon Right to Life and supported by a wide range of other pro-life groups and ministries, the Roe vs. Wade Memorial Rally is timed each year to fall on or near the Jan. 22 anniversary of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion on demand. An estimated 54 million lives have been lost to abortion nationally during the intervening 39 years.
      The annual rally had been held for many years outside the State Capitol in Salem, drawing about several hundred people on average, as it did last year. But holding the rallies in downtown Portland in 2009 and 2010 drew far larger crowds — up to an estimated 7,000.

     Because the cost of holding the event in Portland each year is prohibitive, Oregon Right to Life’s leadership has decided to alternate it between Portland and Salem.
      The event runs from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. and will be followed by a “Memorial Walk” in the immediate area. The Portland Praise Band will begin playing at 2:20 p.m.
     Besides a variety of speakers, the rally also will feature the Oregon Memorial Wall for the Unborn. A “permanent movable wall” that has been displayed at several events statewide, it contains nearly 12,000 names to reflect the average number of babies aborted in Oregon each year.
   Co-sponsors of the rally include Precious Children of Portland, KBVM and KPDQ radio, 40 Days for Life and Christian News Northwest.
     For more information on the Portland rally, phone Oregon Right to Life at 503-463-8563 or portlandproliferally.org.
      Several smaller rallies or other pro-life events also are planned around the state on the following dates: Jan. 14 — Eugene; Jan. 19 — Medford; Jan. 22 — Coos Bay, Roseburg, Grants Pass and Salem. See the Events Calendar section of this website for details.