AUGUSTA (AP) – Anti-abortion activists marked the 31st anniversary of Roe v. Wade with a rally that featured speeches, prayers and a preview of an upcoming television ad.

The Maine Right to Life Committee held its annual Hands Around the Capitol rally Saturday, an event scheduled around the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision to legalize abortion.

Bob Estes, board president for Maine Right to Life, said the event usually draws around 600 people. There was no official count on how many attended this year, but they filled all the seats in the gymnasium of St. Mary’s School.

The event ended at the State House, where participants circled the building while displaying anti-abortion signs.

Among those at the rally was Kaitlyn Hall, 17, of Farmington, who said her parents discussed abortion after she was conceived.

Thankfully her mother kept her, she said, and now she wants other people to know how abortion can affect families.

Carl Maddaleni, Maine Vitae coordinator, presented a new advertising campaign set to appear on Maine television stations starting next week. The 13-week campaign costs $150,000 and is in its fifth year.

Bishop Joseph Gerry of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland delivered an invocation and spoke of the importance of the message presented at the rally.

“It boggles the mind to think millions and millions of babies have never seen the light of day, have never been able to exercise their choice, because someone else chose to end their life,” Gerry said.

Pregnancy resource centers and anti-abortion advocates staffed booths in the gymnasium. A half-dozen students from Ossipee Valley Christian School in Cornish gave a juggling presentation set to the backdrop of narrators detailing first-person decisions about abortion and how their outcomes affected themselves and their babies.

AP-ES-01-18-04 1230EST