Celebrating diversity and unity on anniversary of the March for Women’s Lives

On this day one year ago, over a million people converged on the U.S. capitol to support women's reproductive rights.

Today marks the first anniversary of the historic March for Women’s Lives, the largest-ever march on Washington. Though the euphoria of that historic moment has long since faded, the March left a vibrant legacy of collaboration and coalition-building that remains strong.

On this day one year ago, over a million people converged on the U.S. capitol, their voices swelling into one resounding chorus that echoed across the United States and beyond.

“The March was an impressive, unprecedented event,” said Elizabeth Maguire, Ipas President and CEO, “that sent an unequivocal message to the U.S. government and the world that women’s reproductive rights and freedom must be protected.”

Beyond its sheer size, what distinguished the 2004 March for Women’s Lives was the breadth and diversity of those represented in the planning process and at the March itself. Transcending traditional boundaries and divisions, organizers and participants coalesced around a shared recognition of the universality of reproductive and sexual health and rights issues.

Among those represented were current and future generations of activists, women’s rights organizations, women of color groups, human-rights, social- and economic-justice organizations, and health-care providers and advocates.

Ipas helped place the issues of the March in a global context, mobilizing an international delegation to attend and organizing a separate demonstration focusing on the far-reaching impact of the Global Gag Rule and other harmful U.S. policies.

On the one-year anniversary of the March, Ipas and local partners are publishing a commemorative ad that reads: “We stand on moral ground. We stand for healthy women and families. We stand for access to basic health care, including birth control, emergency contraception, sex education, STD testing and treatment, prenatal care, and abortion. We stand for medical privacy. We stand for women’s lives. We stand on moral ground.”

The issues raised at the March and echoed in the commemorative ad are far from resolved. In fact, as the political climate becomes increasingly fraught, there is a clear and critical need to keep up the collaborative momentum of the March to address the growing threats to reproductive and sexual health and rights across the world.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258