My experience attending the March for Life this year was vastly different from my first and only other March I attended in 2020.
That first year I marched, I did so with excitement, energy, and a strong sense of admiration for the strength of the pro-life movement, which I clearly saw in the thousands of people witnessing to the human rights of the pre-born. If I’m honest with myself, though, I also felt like this was a “pro-life checkbox,” an event in which I had to participate simply to call myself a pro-lifer.
That conviction to do something about the tragedy of abortion fizzled out after I returned to my day-to-day life. No longer surrounded by the passion of thousands of people, it was easy to forget and ignore the reality of abortion.
This year, I experienced a deeper interior stirring that this demonstration to protect the human rights of the pre-born could not simply be a one-time, once-a-year experience. I owe that to serving this mission with DCRTL.
Since daily committing to this cause, I’ve encountered the weight and tragedy of abortion more personally than ever before. Whether it’s talking to a pro-choice person in outreach or hearing real, personal stories of children killed through abortion, I have become more and more aware of the gravity of this issue – and my responsibility to respond.
We’re not supposed to simply march for one day out of the year. This is the greatest injustice of our time, and it demands more than just the belief that abortion is wrong. We must “march” year-round by taking concrete action to confront this evil until it’s unthinkable.
That’s why we continue to march even now that Roe has been overturned, leaving the decision to make abortion legal or illegal to the states’ representatives. This victory for Life does not mean we can go home and consider the battle against abortion won. Instead, it must energize us to work for cultural change. Until our culture can see and believe that abortion is a horror – a human rights violation against the most vulnerable – our work is not done.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to march with so many passionate pro-life advocates this year. I’m grateful for the gift of Life, and the opportunity to celebrate that Life every day, with a community that spans the nation. And I’m grateful to be part of this mission to end abortion.
Let’s continue our march this year to not only be a voice for the voiceless, but also to work for a day when abortion is rejected as the true human injustice that it is.
Always for Life,
Naomi