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Protesters filed into congressional office buildings all day.

Some folks thanked President Bush explicitly for his anti-abortion stance.

The protesters marched east down Constitution Avenue before turning right to the Supreme Court building.

The protests got some play in the local media, although WaPo had nothing today on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade (as far as I could tell). There seemed to be some local fatigue on the issue. On WAMU, DC's main NPR station, Kojo Nnamdi introduced his segment on Roe v. Wade today by asking whether or not the protests had become ritualized to the point that they were now uninteresting (and, presumably, ineffective; "uninteresting" is my word, not his). Here is an audio link to the show, which I didn't have a chance to listen to. A friend of mine who is a Senate staffer made a similar argument. And a clogged Union Station at rush hour probably made the protesters few allies.

As I note below, one of the things that I didn't expect was the number of school-aged kids out there today. Someone who is 14 protesting against abortion is a bit like someone who has never had financial responsibilities protesting in favor of personal bankruptcy reform: it's not clear that they would really know what is at stake. Many kids were out there with their parents, teachers and church groups. Some have claimed that public opinion data show a conservative trend among kids with respect to the abortion issue; I would bet that events such as these (protests are fun if you believe in -- or are at least willing to entertain -- the cause) have helped to lay the groundwork for that opinion.

My general view is that the protesters are wrong, that Roe v. Wade was on the right side even if one might wonder about the relationship between court action and social change. Given that courts themselves have made references to these types of marches (see Casey, for example), however, it seems to me that it's worth getting a first hand view. Plus, protests are one way for ordinary individuals to attempt to shape opinion on constitutional matters; even if I disagree with the particular positions advanced here, in my view it's important for such attempts to be part of the political culture more broadly.

MORE: Just in case you haven't seen it, President Bush returned the thanks with some words of support today, here.