The problems started near the parking lot of a Macy's warehouse store, where the buses dropped off groups and other people marched from what seemed like all directions. Along with cars trying to drive through the area, there was a bottleneck of protesters who just had to stand around and wait.

The small group that had made it to the Planned Parenthood building stood in a line in front of its gate along the I-45 feeder road. A few people waved signs at passing cars, but most faced the building with hands raised and heads bowed. 

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John and Lee Ann Parks (pictured above) made the trip from Magnolia. A couple weeks ago, John said, a dance group visited their church -- Freedom Fellowship -- and encouraged them to go to the protest, so they joined a large caravan of people and came down.

"It's important to us because there's been a downturn in understanding, along with what's happening in our government, so we thought we needed to make a stand. Life is important," John said. "It's not so much a protest, but more of a prayer movement. We're not angry at anyone."

His wife Lee Ann added that they put red tape over their mouths with the words "Life" and "Vida" written on it -- popular with the anti-abortion crowd -- to symbolize the silent screams of aborted babies.