WASHINGTON DC—One day before tens-of thousands plan to march in memorial of the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, 13 were arrested for conducting a sit-in at the Russell Senate Office Building. The sit-in was part of a protest to draw attention to new Senate Majority leader Bill Frist’s statements in the press that he would not push for a ban on human cloning.
Before the arrests, the group prayed and sang hymns as snow fell and police and news reporters gathered. Rev. Patrick Mahoney, of the Washington DC based Christian Defense Coalition, explained to the crowd why the group was so passionate to see human cloning banned. Mahoney asked, “Do you know that there is no law in our country against human cloning?” Signs held by the demonstrators read, Life Begins at Conception, Frist—Put Life First, and Conceived to be Killed—Ban Cloning Now.
Those arrested were all adults. Several members of the pro-life youth group Survivors had planned to participate in the protest and be arrested until the police told protest leaders they would hold any minors arrested overnight. The last minute change in police policy regarding the treatment of minors angered group leader Jeff White. Before he was arrested, White told reporters, “They threatened my children, saying they would be put at risk of rape. Shame on you. Peaceful civil disobedience is part of what makes this country great.”
The young people who were not arrested visited their Senators and asked them to ban human cloning.
Last night a record number of youth, estimated to be over 400, attended a candlelight prayer vigil in front of the Supreme Court despite temperatures dipping into the high teens.