WASHINGTON -- Tens of thousands of abortion protesters swarmed the National Mall yesterday on the 37th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision in the annual March for Life.

About 6,000 marchers were from southwestern Pennsylvania, arriving on a chilly, rainy morning on a fleet of buses and wearing black and gold stickers that read: "Southwestern PA Pro-Life."

After a morning youth rally at the Verizon Center sports arena, the marchers gathered on the Mall -- about halfway between the U.S. Capitol and the Washington Monument -- to listen to speakers ranging from members of Congress to high-ranking clergy. Pittsburgh's past and present bishops -- Donald Wuerl, now the archbishop of Washington, D.C., and David Zubik -- were among those on stage.

The masses, many of them young students, then filed up Constitution Avenue, past the Capitol to the steps of the Supreme Court for another rally, waving banners and chanting "Hey hey, ho ho. Roe v. Wade has got to go."

This year's crowd had current events on their minds, as many marchers expressed concern about insurance coverage of abortion in Congress' pending health care reform legislation.

Gretchen Cararie, of Valencia, has been to every March for Life except the first one, and she said it's mushroomed in size over the years.

"We have to keep educating the next generation," Ms. Cararie said. "We have to keep telling them that abortion's wrong, and we have to learn to respect all life. And because we have to let our legislators know that we aren't going to stop working for that protection for life."

on the web

For video coverage of the march, visit post-gazette.com.

Washington correspondent Daniel Malloy writes the "Pittsburgh On The Potomac" blog exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.