HERNDON, Va. -- Pro-choice advocates have been "emboldened by the most pro-abortion White House in American history," U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., said late Saturday at the 50th annual National Right to Life convention in Herndon, Va.
But he also highlighted recent victories by abortion opponents.
"We've made great strides toward our goal in recent years, despite the furious and feverish opposition of the abortion lobby. We've passed many pro-life laws in the states, as a shield for the unborn and to curb the worst abuses of the abortion industry," he said.
"And in Washington, yes, we've moved heaven and Earth to confirm pro-life judges and three Supreme Court justices we hope may soon one day call Roe v. Wade what it was and what it remains: a moral and constitutional travesty," he said.
"When Roe falls, a great injustice will be rectified, and a great rebuke to our nation's values will be reconciled, and millions of innocent souls will be saved," he said.
Cotton shared stories about his own son, Daniel, who was placed in a neonatal intensive care unit as he battled respiratory distress syndrome.
And he quoted Scripture, including Jeremiah 1:5 -- "Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart."
Democratic Party of Arkansas Chairman Michael John Gray accused Cotton of misrepresenting Democrats' views on abortion and of misleading his constituents.
"Any elected official that gets up there and says 'We're going to completely get rid of abortion' is lying to the voters," Gray said. "What they should get up and say is 'We can't stop all abortion, but we do think they should be safe, legal and rare, and we're going to invest in women's health. We're going to invest in education, we're going to invest in the foster care system so that there are many choices out there.'"
"There's no way to shut down abortion entirely. You can make it illegal; that doesn't mean you're going to get rid of it, which means there's going to be unsafe options," he added.
This weekend's two-day conference at the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport Hotel included dozens of workshops focusing on abortion-related legislation and litigation, euthanasia and a variety of other topics, including "preparing for the 2022 elections" and "Down syndrome -- what prenatal testing won't tell you."
In the exhibit hall, representatives from a variety of anti-abortion groups promoted their organizations or sold their books.
Saturday evening, before the closing dinner, activists could attend either a Catholic Mass or what was described as an "Evangelical Worship & Prayer Service."
At the heart of the national convention was former Pulaski County resident Jacki Ragan.
Ragan, who once organized a national anti-abortion rally with at least 200,000 participants, was also at the helm of Saturday's more manageable roughly 400 people.
As Right to Life's director of state organizational development, Ragan secured the hotel in the Washington suburbs for the event and lined up Cotton as the banquet speaker.
She recruited volunteers, and she tied up loose ends, just as she's done for decades.
"For the convention, Jacki is the heartbeat," said National Right to Life President Carol Tobias.
"She's just got organizational abilities that I'm not sure I've seen in anybody else," Tobias said. "At the same time she has a compassionate heart."
Ragan, a grandmother of 11 and great-grandmother of three, began her anti-abortion efforts in the mid-1970s while living near Sherwood.
"My girlfriend wanted to go to confession, and she asked me if I would babysit her kids, and I said 'Sure,'" Ragan recalled Saturday.
After confession, "her penance was to attend a meeting that night. It was a Right to Life meeting. And she said 'Will you go with me?' And I said 'Sure,'" Ragan said. "I got hooked, and she didn't. And I've been involved ever since."
Ragan, who attended Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in North Little Rock at the time, wasn't looking for a cause to embrace, she said.
"I was a mom with three little babies, and I was a housewife and didn't volunteer very much. But I left the meeting that night, and I knew I had to do something, that I could not live with myself if I didn't."
She ended up forming North Pulaski Right to Life, later spearheading Little Rock's first March for Life. The Most Rev. Andrew J. McDonald, bishop of Little Rock, gave her $200 to help organize the event.
For a time, Ragan was director of the diocese's Respect Life Office.
After years of activism, she agreed to lead Arkansas Right to Life, an organization that existed more in theory than in reality at the time. With Ragan at the helm, the organization began to grow. More than four decades later, it remains active.
Former Arkansas Right to Life President Anne Dierks refers to Ragan as the organization's "founder."
In 1985, Ragan was hired by National Right to Life and moved to the Washington area. But she didn't sever her Natural State ties -- she still serves as the Arkansas representative on the organization's national board.
The department Ragan oversees works with state affiliates and with local chapters to "provide expertise, information and tips on chapter development, fundraising and legislation."
"We have about 3,000 chapters across the country," Ragan said.
Chapter members "are involved in our day-to-day activities," she said. "They lobby ... and write letters and make calls. They are our voice in the trenches. They are in the local areas -- in Gravel Ridge and Sherwood and Indian Hills and all of those places."
The state offices are "the voice in the capital and the voice nationally," she said.
Ragan got roped into convention planning in 1985, the same year she was hired. "My boss came to me and said 'Will you do this for one year? Just one year?'" Ragan recalled.
Three decades later, "I'm still here," she said.
She selects the location and the venue for the convention roughly two years out. Major speakers are arranged in the fall of the year preceding the convention.
Typically, 800 to 1,000 people attend, she said.
"This year is pretty small because of covid," Ragan said.
In 1990, she was tasked with organizing an anti-abortion rally in Washington. Then-Vice President Dan Quayle spoke. The size of the crowd is disputed. The official U.S. Park Police estimate was 200,000.
Whatever the size, it was big enough to appear on the front page of The New York Times the next day, above the fold.
Over the years, many of the nation's most prominent Republican politicians have appeared at the convention.
Paul Greenberg, the longtime editorial page editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, also spoke. This year's convention yearbook included a full-page tribute to the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer. "He was a dear friend," Ragan said.
Once the convention is over, Ragan said she will shift her focus back to growing the anti-abortion movement.