March for Women's Lives

The March for Women's Lives was a demonstration for abortion rights and women's rights, held April 25, 2004 on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and possibly the largest protest ever held on the Mall. Since the National Park Service no longer made official estimates of the number of people in attendance, it is hard to compare the march to official estimates of past mass demonstrations such as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, but march organizers estimated that 1.15 million people participated; other estimates suggested more than 800,000 marchers. Either number would make it the largest protest in United States history. Several factors may have contributed to the record turnout, including anger resulting from "the anti-woman policies imposed by President Bush", the urgency of a presidential election season, the timing of the march on a weekend in spring, invitations to groups representing a wide array of interests, an aggressive advertising campaign, and the use of Internet services such as Meetup to coordinate local contingents for the march. Considering the huge number of marchers, it was a surprisingly peaceful march with no violent incidents, even though passions ran high and anti-abortion protestors were present in some places along the march route. 

Events and participants
A rally on the Mall began at 10 a.m., and was followed by a march through the heart of downtown Washington, with a route along Pennsylvania Avenue. Notable celebrities who appeared at the march included Peter, Paul and Mary, Indigo Girls, Moby, Ani DiFranco, Susan Sarandon, Whoopi Goldberg, Ashley Judd, Kathleen Turner, Janeane Garofalo, and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright; also appearing were veteran abortion rights leaders, such as Kate Michelman of NARAL Pro-Choice America and Gloria Steinem, and many members of Congress. Sponsoring organizations included NARAL Pro-Choice America, the Feminist Majority Foundation, Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the National Organization for Women, Code Pink, and Black Women's Health Imperative.

Pro-life counter-protesters, many of them affiliated with Randall Terry's "Operation Witness", lined a portion of the march route along Pennsylvania Avenue. Terry estimated that there were "over a thousand" counter-protesters ; pro-choice writer Jo Freeman estimated that there were "about 300", and the Washington Post wrote that there were "scores". Sixteen protesters from the Christian Defense Coalition were arrested for demonstrating without a permit when they crossed police barricades into the area designated for the March. Some pro-life counter-protesters, such as members from Silent No More, reported they were harassed or hit by marchers from the "March for Women's Lives". .

There were also several topless protesters, though there was no record of any indecent exposure arrests.

The protest was deliberately scheduled to coincide with the IMF/World Bank spring meetings held the same weekend. Thousands of anarchists had participated in anti-globalization protests against the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank the previous day. They were noticeably present at the march, formed in a black bloc, wearing all black clothing and masks over their faces.