By Judie Brown
When the first March for Life was held on January 22, 1974, nobody could have imagined that five decades later thousands of people would still come from every corner of the nation to mourn the deaths of millions of preborn babies.
If someone had suggested this, I do not believe that any of us who were around then would have believed it! But here we are.
Many people erroneously believe that our work is done because the Dobbs ruling sent the decision to each state regarding abortion, but we know that the fight is a long way from being won. Babies are still dying every day in abortion facilities and in women’s homes, via the abortion pill regimen. We cannot stop giving voice to the babies. And we cannot stop fighting until abortion is unthinkable in every state in our nation.
Now, with the passage of each year—as the bodies pile up and many of our leaders have died—we continue to remember, to affirm life, and to defend the innocent. According to statistics, more than 64 million preborn children have died from surgical abortion alone! We will never know the number of babies who have died due to chemical or IVF abortion, though it is safe to say that at the very least 100 million children have died.
The most inspiring words I ever heard were at my first March for Life in 1976. They were spoken by March for Life president Nellie Gray, who explained succinctly why we as pro-life Americans could never compromise for any reason. Then, in 1994, when Nellie appeared on EWTN, she made a statement that summarizes why we march. She told Mother Angelica:
When we found legislation making exceptions first for the life of the mother, rather than putting in there equal care for both the mother and the preborn child, they (pro-life leaders and others) were actually saying that someone had the authority to kill an innocent child. Then you know what happened, once they made that one exception for the life of the mother, abortionists came along and put an exception for rape and incest and deformed children. And once those principles were violated, then unfortunately it was extremely difficult to make the abortionists understand that killing an innocent human being is not within the scope of either the moral or the secular law.
Nellie’s point was simple, and it was as clear then as it is today. The addition of exceptions to so-called pro-life legislation defeated us and our desire to focus on the humanity of the preborn child. Politics has not been fair to truth or to preborn children. Her words and principles throughout the years have guided us, as they have so many others who know that when pro-life people go to Washington to march for life, we are saying no to every single abortion for any reason whatsoever.
The March for Life is a pilgrimage that brings pro-life people together to reflect on why we defend the babies and why we must never stop until each and every one of them is protected by the culture and in every state law. It is a sacrificial way of expressing with our presence and with our prayers the goal we share to end the ghastly crime of abortion.
Going forward, may we never lose our zeal for truth as we continue to strive, with the help of God, to end the mass murder of our preborn brothers and sisters.
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Learn how to teach these truths to your children and encourage their teachers to do likewise. American Life League’s Culture of Life Studies Program offers the way.
Make sure to have Celebrate Life Magazine in your home. It also makes a wonderful gift for your doctor and your educator, not to mention your pastor.
Start rooting out the evil in your neighborhood by learning how to stop Planned Parenthood.
Please pray for America.