Saturday was the Third Annual Walk for Life in San Francisco. I had fun marching with people for an end to abortion and respect for the life of unborn children. I went with the Berkeley Students for Life and helped with the setup of the march as well as actually marching.

I have been to a couple of San Francisco protests before, though this was decidedly different. First off, almost all the marchers were highly focused on the pro-life issue. Very few people carried signs on other topics. Second, the demeanor of the marchers was calm. Instead of yelling and screaming chants there were people praying and singing. In my section of the crowd, only one person was looking for a confrontation and he was pretty timid about it. Third, no one I knew of was smoking marijuana.

In true First Amendment and San Francisco style, there were people out there to disagree with us. Not all of these people who greeted us wanted to talk about abortion or what happens before a child is born. There were the usual drive out the Bush regime people. I did not see any Palestinian flags so I must have not been looking hard enough.

Would any protest be complete without the Dubya in a cage people?

If anyone can explain how Jesus = Hitler Youth or how that relates to a walk for life I would like to know.

While I was passing out signs a gentleman came up and started to talk with me. We argued over the use of the term unborn child or fetus. He tried to convince me that ‘it’ was a fetus and had no rights. My pleas for the protection of a human life were met by cries that I was a male and had no right to control a woman’s body. Which one of us do you think was blessed by an Eastern Orthodox Father walking by?

I liked the combination of the clenched fist and the woman symbol. They should use that next time a girl talks about her angry vagina on Sproul.

Surprisingly, the one time I came into contact with certifiable baby killers no one throw the term around, though someone threatened me with castration. Then there was the man standing with the pro-abortion crowd who told the marchers to keep their rosaries off his ovaries. I would be remiss if I did not pass along the new word I saw: heteroparricharchy.

There will be a photo essay in the February issue of the Patriot with more and different pictures worth seeing.

On campus this week the Berkeley Students for Life will be having a few events so check out their table on Sproul or the speaker they will be having at noon on Monday.