According to the estimates, the annual March for Life attracted over 250,000 people yesterday, drawing wide participation in the rally against legalized abortion. This year’s march began with prayer offered by Anglican Priest Martin Mims.

“Forgive us for the many ways in which we have failed to respect the sanctity of every human life,” he began. “Give us courage to be a voice for the voiceless. Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayer. We gather today to pray for our leaders. We pray especially for those who even now are making decisions about providing healthcare for all our people. Protect them from choices made out of political expediency with no mind for your truth,” Mims requested. “Remind them of your promises. Turn their hearts to the children. Lord in your mercy hear our prayer. And now to the God who showed his love for the whole world, to the gift of his only son, Jesus the Christ, and who calls us to do the same, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever, Amen.”

The event’s focus was the issue of life, and the vast crowd marched to its conclusion at the Supreme Court, which is where the 1973 decision was made to legalize abortion. Since that decision in Roe v. Wade, more than 50-million babies have been aborted.

Nellie Gray, 84, president of March for Life, later spoke to the crowd, explaining one of the purposes behind being in the streets of the nation’s capitol on a cold, wintery day. “We’ve got to get the president to hear us,” she declared. “We’ve got to get the justices to hear us, and we’ve got to get Congress to hear us.”