Marching Forward

TRANSCRIPT

Protesters from across the country are once again taking a stand for life in the nation's capital. Church Militant's Nick Wylie discusses the largest annual gathering of pro-lifers in the United States. 

On Friday, thousands of demonstrators processed through downtown Washington, D.C., for the 49th annual March for Life.

Kristan Hawkins, president, Students for Life: "To demand protection at conception — to not be simply happy that phase one has been achieved or check the box 'GOP politicians say they're pro-life.' Now is the time to act."

This year's march is the first since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June 2022, which moved abortion policies back to the states. 

In 1974, the first March for Life was organized by Nellie Gray in protest of the Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, which legalized abortion in all 50 states.

Jason Jones, president, Vulnerable People Project:

What we are called to do is tell the people the truth about the human person, that the most beautiful thing — the beautiful created thing in the cosmos — is your neighbor. We need to shoulder the burdens of the vulnerable. And when we do that, we are communicating our Catholic faith.

As of January 2023, there have been over 64.4 million babies slaughtered in the United States since Roe came into effect. 

Savannah Dudzik, pro-life activist:

What America needs is for us to spread a whole culture of life. And that does not just mean trying to end abortion, which is obviously the greatest human rights crisis of our time. That means that we need to have sexual ethics. We need to pay attention to dressing modestly. We need to be vocally against homosexuality. It means that we need to be against contraception.

Pro-lifers must recognize that overturning Roe was only a partial victory and shift their focus to making the law recognize the personhood of the unborn.

There were five abortion-related ballot measures during the 2022 midterm elections, and all five resulted in victories for the Party of Death.