Memorials planned 40 years after Supreme Court ruling

CHICAGO (AP) -- Forty years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court created a right to abortion with its Roe v. Wade ruling.

 

Abortion opponents compare the ensuing decades to the biblical 40 years of wandering in the desert, with some groups planning to mark today's anniversary with prayers mourning the nation's 55 million unborn.

 

Joe Scheidler, national director of the Pro-Life Action League, says he marched for civil rights with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but he considers abortion the denial of an even more fundamental right to life.

 

In Washington, the Christian Defense Coalition plans to lay 3,300 flowers in front of the Supreme Court today representing the number of abortions performed each day in the U.S.