Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 28, 1990 TAG: 9004280100
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"We hope to impress the Congress. We hope to impress the nation," said Dr. J.C. Willke, president of the National Right to Life Committee.
President Bush will address the crowd by telephone hookup, as he and former President Ronald Reagan have done at previous anti-abortion rallies. Vice President Dan Quayle will speak in person.
The National Right to Life Committee, the leading anti-abortion lobbying group and the rally's sponsor, declined to predict the size of the crowd. But Willke said he hoped it would be the largest rally ever on the Washington Mall, exceeding past crowds of more than a quarter of a million people.
Andrea Sexton, chairman of Roanoke's Virginia Society for Human Life, estimated 2,000 people from the Roanoke Valley would be attending. The area's VSHL has 200 dues-paying families and sends a newsletter to 1,000 families.
Sexton said the event was expected to be particularly "family-oriented. It's not like a demonstration; it's a celebration."
The New River Valley chapter of the Virginia Society for Human Life chartered a bus to the rally. As of Saturday, 47 people had signed up to ride the bus and other group members were traveling by car or van, said Marla Burt, a member.
In the works for more than a year, the rally comes at a time when anti-abortion forces have sustained a series of losses in elections and in state capitals.
Staff writers contributed some of the information in this report.
by CNB