March for Life 2016 deserves recognition

The March for Life, protesting the Supreme Court's 1973 decision that legalized abortion throughout pregnancy, took place this past Friday, as it has since 1974. I checked six news outlets at ten o’clock that evening to see if it was covered. National NBC news had one picture under “Today in Pictures” of a family kneeling down in prayer. No sweeping shots of the hundreds of thousands. USA Today online had a blurb stating that the march would go on in spite of blizzard warnings and that lower numbers were expected (Last year saw 800,000). FOX news had one video clip from that evening's newscast that I had to search for. ABC, CBS, and CNN had nothing at all.

What a shame. What a lie. Hundreds of thousands of Americans peacefully converging for any reason is important news. People should know about this huge, long-standing march for such an excellent reason.

Largely organized and attended by Catholics, there are nonetheless many others that join the rallies and walk from the mall to the Supreme Court — groups like Secular Pro life, Feminists for Life, PLAGAL (pro life alliance of gays and lesbians), Pro life Pagans, and Evangelicals. All are committed to overturning Roe v. Wade just as our 13th and 14th amendments rendered the 1857 Dred Scott decision unconstitutional.

The best explanation of the decision’s foolishness comes from a January 20, 2016 article in Opposing Views called “You Can be an Atheist and Still Pro life.” The writer reports: “The majority opinion discusses a variety of views concerning when human life begins … from Stoics (birth) to pre-industrial England (quickening) to Aristotle (mediate animation) to physicians (conception). The notion that science is just one possible approach among many is a hallmark of magical thinking. The consensus of modern embryologists and the beliefs of a civilization that thrived a millennium before the invention of a sonogram are not equally valid. That the Supreme Court of the United States pretended that they were and that such a farce remains good law more than forty years later, is an embarrassment to our legal system.”

The writer also questions, “As a pro life atheist, I find it more interesting to consider why some people place prenatal humans outside the class of lives that are valuable.” Indeed. I wonder that as well.

PLAGAL has a great essay on their website about liberty. It reads that liberty does not mean the right to do whatever we choose, but that it is a negative right; that is, the right to be free from aggression. Such non-aggression has an immediate consequence — we may not endanger the innocent; and a positive implication — we must protect each other.

Our laws must follow. That is why the March for Life continues. Some question whether peaceful demonstrations do any good. It seems that the ugly, violent demonstrations get people talking, legislators writing, and changes occurring. They certainly get more news coverage. But no American wonders if Dr. Martin Luther King did any good. So we will continue to march, speak, and care for people.

My family was not in Washington, D.C. on Friday. We attended a Living Rosary to pray for all involved — the babies, the women, the men, the government, and how we might better help. A group of about 60 people, many of them children, stood in a circle taking turns reading themed dedications and repeating prayers together. We meditated on the Joyful Mysteries in the life of Christ (The Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Presentation, and the Finding of Jesus in the Temple). Of these milestones in his life, two of them occurred when He was in Mary’s womb. Praying a rosary is like looking through a photo album with Mary. “Oh look here, this is when I visited Elizabeth and her little John leaped inside her!” And, “Now this was when we lost Jesus for three days; that was awful.” She loves her son and she loves it when we love her son (I know I like people that like my kids!). She will pray for us to know him better, too, which is what the Hail Mary prayer is all about. It’s good repetition, not vain. We know that the Israelites (and Jesus, of course) used repetitive prayer daily.

So we prayed and asked Mary to pray for us and the babies and mothers, and went out to our separate homes. It felt like the ending of Mass, when the priest says, “Our Mass has ended; go in peace to love and serve the Lord” and the congregation answers, “Thanks be to God.” We serve our Lord different ways (and some of the earlier mentioned don’t at all) but we do agree that abortion is a grave evil in our country. Some will dedicate prayers, some will donate to pregnancy centers and nonprofit aid organizations, some will craft legislation, some will write letters and give speeches, and some will join with thousands of others to attend the March for Life.

Former president Jimmy Carter once said in an interview, “I have never been convinced, if you let me inject my Christianity into it, that Jesus Christ would approve of abortion.” Our little brothers and sisters deserve the right to be free from aggression. You won’t see it in the mainstream news, but an internet search for March for Life will quickly yield breathtaking photos of the hundreds of thousands of Americans who hear their blood calling and are trying to be keepers and protectors.

Former Democratic governor of Georgia, state senator, and Marine Zell Miller put it this way: “It is not a proper fate for a human being made in God’s image.” No, it is not. Not at all.

Allison Howell and her family are longtime residents of the Valley. They are Catholic converts and keep a hobby farm full of animals and children.

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