With a new and growing energy, the annual March for Life lifted its voice in defense of the unborn once again in Washington, D.C., on Friday.
Every year, on or around the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark Supreme Court decsion that legalized abortion, the world’s largest pro-life rally unites people from around the nation to take a stand against the murder of millions of unborn children through abortion.
This year saw a hopeful shift in the attitude of the participants. Whereas in previous years, the march, and its cause, received very little attention from the media or the White House, this year’s event proved different — historically so.
For the first time since the founding of the March for Life, a sitting vice president attended — and spoke at — the rally, and considerably more mainstream media were on site to cover the event than in previous years.
As the Washington Post reported:
After 43 years of doggedly demonstrating against abortion at the annual March for Life each January, thousands of abortion opponents will gather Friday on the Mall with great reason for optimism. Just days into his presidency, Donald Trump has made abortion one of his first priorities in office.
The past eight years’ marches have been grimmer affairs, with tens of thousands of anti-abortion activists gathering to show their solidarity with one another and restate their opposition, but with little chance of having their hopes fulfilled on the federal level.
This year, change seems not only possible but imminent.
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As Vice President Pence addressed the excited and expectant onlookers, he assured them that “life is winning again in America.” Amidst waves of cheers, he confidently spoke of his pro-life stance, encouraging the marchers with these words:
More than 240 years ago, our Founders wrote words that have echoed through the ages.
They declared these truths to be self-evident that we are, all of us, endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights, and that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Forty-four years ago, our Supreme Court turned away from the first of these timeless ideals.
But today, three generations hence, because of all of you, and the many thousands that stand with us in marches like this all across the nation, life is winning again in America.
Presidential advisor Kellyanne Conway also addressed the crowd. Concerning the right to life, she adamantly stated,
It is a right. It is not a privilege. It is not a choice. It is God given… This dismissive notion of “out of sight out of mind” is over. Science and medicine have joined religion and morality in causing many Americans to rethink just how fragile and how triumphant human life truly is.
She assured the pro-lifers, “We hear you. We see you. We respect you. And we look forward to working with you.”
Another speaker at the rally was Bishop Vincent Matthews, Jr., president of the Church of God in Christ World Missions, and an advocate for adoption in African-American communities. Addressing the fact that the abortion industry giant Planned Parenthood targets minority communities in which to plant their facilities, he passionately asserted, “I stand here as three people. I’m a Christian, I’m a bishop in the Church of God in Christ, but — it’s obvious — I’m a black man. Yeah, that’s the elephant in the room.” He continued, “My people are being hunted like animals. People cry for Harambe, but they have no love for us as we’re being killed every day. Enough is enough!”
Matthews’ assertion that black people are targeted for abortion was admitted as fact by the original founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger. As this writer noted in a previous article:
What criteria did Sanger consider in deciding who was either “unfit” or “defective”? Sickliness and poverty were certainly factors. Race was another. In her book Woman, Morality and Birth Control, Sanger wrote, “Birth control must lead ultimately to a cleaner race.” To bring about this “cleaner race,” Sanger sought a way to eliminate the races she considered inferior — especially blacks. In a letter to Clarence Gamble, president of the American Eugenics Research Association, Sanger addressed her fear that “the Negro population” was figuring out the plan “to exterminate” them. She wrote:
We should hire three or four colored ministers, preferably with social-service backgrounds, and with engaging personalities. The most successful educational approach to the Negro is through a religious appeal. We don’t want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population and the minister is the man who can straighten out that idea if it ever occurs to any of their more rebellious members.
It is noteworthy that today the vast majority of Planned Parenthood’s abortion clinics are in neighborhoods that are predominantly black. It seems that the organization is still following Sanger’s vision.
And Bishop Matthews stands as the antithesis to Sanger’s initial plan.
Representing the spirit of the March for Life, these noteworthy speakers encouraged hope for the future and rallied the eager participants who had converged on Washington, D.C. from every part of the country.
One marcher, identified only as Theresa, stated her reason for attending the event: “There is dignity in every human life, from conception until natural death, and people need to know that.”
Field Coordinator for The John Birch Society Michael Smart, who attended the event, stated that he was “impressed with the massive number of younger people and their enthusiasm and behavior.” He noted the stark difference between the actions and morals of those attending the peaceful March for Life and those of the participants in the racous January 21 Women’s March on Washington. “My favorite part,” he noted, “was being in the company of so many decent, like-minded people. You don’t realize how many of our fellow countrymen agree with us until you show up at something like this. ‘Media culture’ tends to alter reality and make us feel isolated.”
This year’s March for Life has connected like-minded individuals not only to one another, but seemingly also to their elected officials. There is room for cautious optimism, as the political winds seem to be shifting in favor of life. Time will tell if the newly-birthed expectations of the pro-life movement are validated.
As Vice President Pence declared in his speech,
Society can be judged by how it cares for its most vulnerable — the aged, the disabled, and the unborn. To heal our land and restore a culture of life we must continue to be a movement that embraces all, cares for all, and shows respect for the dignity and worth of every person. We will not rest until we restore a culture of life in America for ourselves and our posterity.
While abortion isn’t the only nemesis of life, it is the pivotal one. Until we have enough respect for life to not murder the innocent unborn, we will never have respect for the lives of those living among us.
Photo credit: Alexandria Shaw
