Niece Of Martin Luther King, Jr. Joins Tulsa 'March For Life'

Hundreds marched through downtown Tulsa Tuesday night, 40 years after the historic Roe v. Wade decision.

Anti-abortion advocates packed the streets for Tulsa's "March for Life" event, which brought in activist Dr. Alveda King.

She's the niece of Martin Luther King, Jr., and her experience with abortion stretches further than one might think.

It's a debate that's been ongoing for 40 years now.

"I know how it's done and it's horrible," said 17-year-old Hadassah Hendrickson. "God says all life is precious and babies are life in the womb, they are alive and they're precious to me."

The Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision of 1973 made abortion legal in the United States.

"We have some solemn thoughts about how America allowed legislation to pass," Dr. Alveda King said.

Since that ruling, "March for Life" organizers say more than 55 million fetuses have been aborted. They say more than 2,100 abortions are performed each year in Tulsa.

"I do want to see Roe versus Wade overturned. It's a bad law, it needs to be recalled," King said.

For King, the debate is personal.

"I'm post-abortive," she said.

In the early ‘70s, she went through two abortions, before giving birth to five children. She now calls those decisions mistakes.

"I regret my abortions very much, and I regret them so much that I now have the courage to tell other people, ‘Don't do it,'" King said.

King said her life was almost ended by abortion, that is, until her grandfather told her mother he'd dreamt of a little girl with bright red hair and bright skin.

"And I was born just like that and he told my mother, because she wanted to abort me, he says, ‘You can't do that, I saw her in a dream.' So, when I say, ‘I have a dream, it's in my genes,' I'm talking about Martin Luther King, Sr. seeing me and saving my life," King said.

King joined the anti-abortion movement shortly after Roe v. Wade passed. Her mission is to open the eyes of other women to let them know there are alternatives.

"I had to repent and get my life together, so that I would have the strength now to encourage others to support life," King said.

At the event tonight, were 220 Catholic high school students from around the state.

From here, they're headed to march in the original "March for Life" rally in Washington, D.C.