It was the best of times. It was the worst of times.

On April 25, pro-abortion marchers descended upon Washington, D.C., in droves — homosexual protestors, cross-dressers, half-clothed women and radical feminists with a bevy of aging Hollywood starlets leading the throng. Instead of using the word killing, they marched in unity for “lives.”

Those gathered for the March for Women's Lives included the usual abortion supporters such as NARAL Pro-Choice America, the National Organization for Women and Planned Parenthood as well as a few surprises, such as the National Education Association, the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, YWCA and Georgetown University's H*yas for Choice.

Their T-shirts and placards were filled with messages of hatred, including: “Barbara Bush Chose Poorly” and “The Pope's Mother Had No Choice.”

Depending on whom you believe, there were “tens of thousands” (according to The New York Times) and more than a million (according to Planned Parenthood) in attendance.

The numbers are due to the organizer's shrewd planning — and big wallets. Unlike the March for Life, which takes place on Jan. 22 whether it's a weekday or a weekend, the March for Women's Lives was held on a Sunday to maximize the turnout. Unlike the March for Life, which is held in the midst of winter, this march was held on a beautiful spring day. Unlike the grass-roots March for Life, which is run on a shoestring budget, the March for Women's Lives benefited from a high-dollar promotion effort from the big-money abortion industry and the organizations it funds.

The protest was also planned to coincide with the International Monetary Fund/World Bank and anti-war protestors' presence in town — so professional protesters were in town looking for places to “riot,” to use their word.

The secular media fueled the march with a plethora of stories prior to and on the day of the event. This stands in stark contrast to the media attention historically given to the March for Life.

According to the Media Research Center, not one network news story profiled the pro-life demonstrators at January's March for Life as the central topic. In fact, the center reported that ABC failed to mention the protest at all.

Though more than 100,000 people attended the March for Life and only hundreds attended the pro-abortion counter-protest, CBS' Dan Rather obscured the counts by saying, “Tens of thousands of demonstrators on both sides of the issue filled the streets of Washington.”

When the tables were turned, however, CBS was careful to separate the statistics, noting that the March for Women's Lives drew between 500,000 and 800,000 and “a much smaller contingent of abortion opponents.”

The Associated Press and all the major media outlets were also quick to claim that the number exceeded the last pro-abortion protest of 500,000 in 1992. The media loathes bringing up past numbers when it comes to the March for Life.

Think about it.

The March for Life has been taking place for 30 years. Every single year since, it has attracted crowds ranging in size from 20,000 in 1974 to upward of 200,000 in 1993. On average, the march attracts about 125,000 annually.

Taken collectively, that would be a cumulative total of at least 2.2 million people who have marched for life since the March for Life first began. There is no other civil-rights issue in American history for which more Americans have demonstrated in a march for so many years and in such great numbers. Yet it's a number that, to the best of my knowledge, the media have never reported.

Whether it's 500,000 or not, it doesn't appear those in attendance at the April 25 march are in the mainstream. According to a Zogby International poll released the week of the march, only 13% of Americans believe abortion should be completely unrestricted. Fifty-six percent of the general population and 60% of 18- to 29-year-olds believe abortion should not be legal.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter how many people were in Washington on April 25. We've tolerated the intentional killing of more than 42 million human beings in this country, one by one. Ultimately, one is the only number that really matters. It represents each vulnerable child growing inside his or her mother's womb.

One is a number that's particularly important to me. I was once one such child, threatened in the womb but saved by adoption. But then each of us was loved and born from our mothers, one at a time.

Tim Drake is the Register's staff writer.