The pro-life group Kansans for Life said Thursday that 1500 people attended its annual Rally for Life and Lobby Day at the Capitol in Topeka.

The group said the attendance was triple the normal turnout of about 500.  In a statement issued after the event, organizers claimed "the heightened focus on the abortion issue in Kansas this year related to two court cases against Kansas abortion providers that remain active" explained the numbers.

Amy Meyer, of Dodge City, addressed the rally. Meyer is the Kansas director of the Silent No More campaign, a nationwide organization of women who have had abortions but who are now pro-life.  The national Silent No More co-founder, Georgette Fourney, was in Washington, D.C., addressing  the rally preceding the national March for Life.

According to Kansans for Life's statement, "Pro-life Kansans took buses to participate in the national rally and March for Life. They always are closest to the stage during the rally, which became deafeningly obvious when Sen. Sam Brownback and U.S. Rep. Todd Tiahrt spoke, and later when Archbishop Joseph Naumann was introduced."

At today's rally in Topeka, prizes were awarded for the KFL grade-school poster contest and the KFL high-school oratory contest, and last year's oratory winner gave her winning speech. 

KFL's Executive Director, Mary Kay Culp, said she was pleased with the turnout.

"I am not at all surprised that more people than usual came out today," she said.  "It's been obvious since Obama was elected that pro-life people everywhere are re-energized. This fight is now into its 36th year. It's natural for people not to be able to keep a high level of involvement over that much time, but the Obama administration has got them scared to death, and rightfully so."

Yesterday, the Obama administration put a freeze on a proposed regulation issued by the outgoing Bush administration that would protect doctors and nurses at hospitals and clinics who refused to perform abortions because of religious or moral convictions. 

Culp noted that "President Obama told Planned Parenthood last year that he would sign the so-called Freedom of Choice Act, which would repeal the ban on partial-birth abortion, the ban of the use of tax money for abortion and the laws requiring that parents be informed when a minor daughter is considering abortion--all laws that much of the public supports.  Our movement has done nothing but grow in the last 36 years, but we are seeing new interest at unprecedented levels, especially among the young--those under 35 who know they are in the population of those who could have been legally aborted.  Thus, a fight that might otherwise seem old in its 36th year, is in fact, getting younger and younger. And we're going to need that youth in the difficult days ahead."

Meanwhile, in Wichita, Operation Rescue organized a rally at the late-term abortion clinic operated by George Tiller.

The Week in Review