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Pro-life supporters gathered near Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte Aug. 31 for what was intended to be a peaceful, prayerful vigil in support of the right to life for the unborn and in memory of the 3,300 lives lost daily through abortion in the U.S. They were met by a handful of people who want to keep abortion legal and who tried to drown out the prayer vigil with their shouts. The prayer vigil was the first of several pro-life demonstrations planned before and during the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte September 4-6. More than 40 people gathered to pray the rosary at the beginning of the ecumenical prayer vigil in front of the location where the convention was held. The two-and-a-half hour event was hosted by the Charlotte-based grass-roots organization America, Defend Life! and the Washington-based Christian Defense Coalition. "We are humbled to be able to offer a visual and symbolic expression of the damage caused by abortion in our country every day. At the same time, we are praying for the women and their children who have been bruised," said Brice Griffin, spokeswoman for America, Defend Life! The vigil participants were met by a handful of protesters carrying signs reading "Abortion on Demand and Without Apology," and shouting statements including, "Abortion is not murder! A fetus is not a baby until it is born!" The vigil participants, who were wearing "America, Defend Life!" T-shirts and holding rosaries and pro-life signs with a picture of a fetus reading, "I am a Person," prayed more loudly and spread out a bit more along the sidewalk so that their voices could be heard and their signs read by passers-by.

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