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Thoughts on the March for Life
This past Friday marked the 44th March for Life in Washington, DC. It usually takes place on January 22 (the anniversary of Roe v. Wade), but they moved it back a few days due to the inauguration. It is the longest-running march for the unborn, often with hundreds of thousands of marchers. There is usually a complete media blackout because it goes against the Left’s regressive narrative. This year, there was some coverage because Vice President Mike Pence spoke in person and President Donald Trump called out the media for giving wall to wall coverage to the “Women’s March” while ignoring the March for Life. To the extent the march is mentioned in the press, it’s usually under a title along the lines of: “Thousands of anti-abortion activists gather at so-called ‘March for Life.’” Why is it that the Left takes the mantle of pro-woman and those of us that are pro-life are called “anti-woman” or just “anti-abortion?”
Well yes, I am anti-abortion, in the same way that I’m anti-infanticide, anti-homicide, and anti-murder. Abortion is murder. The media says the images of abortions are too graphic to display, yet they have no problem showing other images of bloodshed. Do you remember the lack of coverage for the Kermit Gosnell trial? They prefer to use antiseptic language to avoid saying that abortion is the tearing apart of another human being limb from limb. They like to say, “it’s just a clump of cells.”
Only a clump of cells. About ten years ago, my brother and his wife were pregnant with their first child. We were estatic when they told us. I couldn’t wait to meet my niece or nephew, just as my mom couldn’t wait meet her first grandbaby. Well, we had to wait for a long time: My sister-in-law lost the baby when she was about two months pregnant. It had been an ectopic pregnancy. We all felt the loss of that child. We didn’t mourn the loss of a clump of cells, we mourned the loss of a family member that we didn’t get to meet. A few years later, they were pregnant again. Not waiting a repeat of what happened before, they waited until they were four months pregnant before they told anyone else. This month we celebrated my niece’s fourth birthday.
I don’t think the fact that this year’s march took place on International Holocaust Remembrance Day should be lost on us. We pause to remember the murder of all the helpless victims of the Holocaust, but we have an ongoing holocaust in our country and around the world, with the most helpless and defenseless of all people. There have been about 60 million abortions in the United States since Roe (the actual number is likely higher, as California, Maryland, and New Hampshire no longer report abortion statistics). 60 million humans. One of them could have been the one to find a cure for cancer. One of them could have been the one to create a new life-saving technology. One of them could have been the one to design a new faster airplane, a safer automobile, a flying car… who knows what. We’ll never know what they could have done because they were never given the chance to live. They were seen as a burden, not a gift. There will be about 2,500 lives ended today by abortion in the United States.
That is why we March for Life. We march for women. We march for men. We march for children. We march for the family. We march for those who were never given a chance to take a breath of air. If you are reading this, remember to thank your mother for choosing life.
Published in General
Amen! and thank you for sharing this, Johnnie!
I read one reference to the March as being a March for Life and Adoption. That cheered my heart. And as it happened, my adopted daughter (now in her 30s) and I had a lovely dad-n-daughter lunch on the day of the March. So thankful her teen birthmother had had the strength and courage to carry her to term, and bravely allowed her to become ours to love and raise her as our own. Not in the Planned Parenthood playbook, that.
God bless the organizers and God bless the faithful pilgrims who come year in and year out no matter DC’s political makeup.
Grant us a new court case that will allow Americans to make laws together against this human rights horror.
I saw my three teens and their group marching past EWTN’s live feed at 4:50:30:
My son’s Archdiocese of New York kelly green scarf and the prompting of the Holy Spirit caused me to see him live yesterday while at home praying!
I see the March of Life as an initiation for our parish kids into the world of MSM. Every year a new crop of kids goes and experiences the thrill of being surrounded by hundreds of thousands of other pro lifers only to discover that they have been totally misrepresented or ignored by the media.
I think the same thing happened to the tea partiers. The elation of meeting with other peaceful, respectful, people at rallies, only to turn on the tv and find themselves described in the most denigrating terms.
I cannot tell you how many, admittedly naive, people who genuinely felt part of a respectful movement which they thought would have an impact on a national debate, had the scales fall from their eyes. Once the trust is gone it never comes back.
I do have to say that FNC covered the March quite extensively on Friday on Special Report with Bret Baier.
Bret Baier is a man of strong faith. I believe he is a Catholic and was even an altar boy.
Indeed, he is; his book “Special Heart” re: his older son’s pediatric heart surgeries, is quite moving.
Completely agree! I was there yesterday. Great day.
The media says the images of abortions are too graphic to display, yet they have no problem showing other images of bloodshed. Do you remember the lack of coverage for the Kermit Gosnell trial?
And they had no trouble showing all the “womyn” wearing female genitalia hats and carrying signs with vile and offensive language on them. I was one of those liberals who called it “a clump of cells.” I mean of course on some level I knew what a human fetus looked like, but it’s what they tell themselves. I was one of them until one day when I saw a Catholic priest at a pro-life march holding up a sign with a picture of a fetus. It had ears. It had arms and legs. That Catholic priest changed this Protestant’s views forever.
A beautifully written post, Johnnie.
Thank You.
Yep! Not much to add. Great post.
Bret was on EWTN the other day interviewed by Raymond Arroyo, who is a bit smooth and unctuous for my taste but a surprisingly good interviewer, talking about many things including Bret’s new book, Three Days in January:
The whole show here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPw1EjwMb8Y
Yes. I share those sentiments. Arroyo usually asks very probing questions of his guests. But is off-putting. There are the few moments where he lets his New Orleans accent come out and he seems truly genuine.
I spent about 16 hours in the car (round trip) to go to the March this year. It was amazing.
Mia Love talked about how her parents struggled with the decision to keep her, never dreaming that she would be the first black Republican congresswoman.
But it is more than that. Even if th child does not have a prayer of doing great things, she will still be someone’s very first friend in kindergarten, someone’s closest confidant in the teen years, likely someone’s first love, spouse, and mom. Every time a baby is aborted, many people’s lives will forever be dimmer, even if they never know it or know why.
I haven’t seen the movie or read the book yet, but I hear it’s outstanding and tragic. Our media was guilty of aggravated criminal negligence.
Back then, a member here posted a screenshot of an intact, 20-week old pre-born child on a lab table. That child could’ve been *me*. When I think of how loving, knowledgeable, compassionate people prayed and fought to keep me alive – I can’t bear any more evasion of the truth…
All of those pro “choice” people should meet you, @nandapanjandrum !
Thanks, Righty! I’d run afoul of their “Physical dependency is not quality of life.” narrative, I think…
You would indeed. I’d like to see your “Failure” post on one of their websites.
What a tightly-packed cogent argument for life.
Re: the “clump of cells” line. I have noticed over the years that I don’t even hear this argument much anymore except for pro-lifers attributing this to pro-abortion people. In general I see very little effort on their part toward arguing anything about the nature or status of the victim of an abortion. I think that they have learned that even stepping into that argument is stepping onto a slippery slope for them. The “clump of cells” assertion invites the question: to which point are you referring? Hours after conception when nobody knows they are pregnant? Days? Weeks? Is it still a “clump” if it has eyes, hands, feet and vital organs including a beating heart and a brain?
I would almost love it if pro-abortion folks would venture to utter this assertion. At least it would open up some ground upon which we could debate with actual facts and knowledge. But I don’t expect them to. The underlying reason for the Abortion movement is power and any argument that they can find to defend it is merely a tactic and not a principle.
Only EWTN has the courage to discuss the issue clearly. You ask why do we call the pro abortion march pro woman? Because our media share the pro abortion views or are cowards. We can change most minds if we start showing what is actually going on, do stories about what happens to women when they finally give birth and realize what they’ve done, or learn that they can’t give birth anymore because of one or more abortions. We must also tell the true story about the progressive movement’s racist genocidal goals. Pro woman indeed.
Thank you for this great post, Johnnie. I’m anti-murder too!
A favorite line of mine from the day was spoken by Eric Metaxas (paraphrased): “If the fetus in the womb has a completely different DNA from the mother, why do people say that this is an issue of a woman’s control over her own body? That new life is not her body.”
Ultrasound technology long ago debunked the “clump of cells” theory.
In order to be pro-abortion, you have to be anti-science.
Before we were married, my fiancee and I got pregnant. I say ‘my fiance and I’ because it took both of us. I pleaded with her to keep the baby, that we would be a great family. I was ecstatic that I was going to be a dad. I was fearful that I wouldn’t be a good dad but certainly wanted to try. She made a unilateral decision to abort. I found out much later it was her third.
That put an end to the fear of being a bad dad. I still have a hole in my heart though. I wonder if my child would have been a son, heir to the family name, or a daughter, my special princess. I pray for my child.
Bottom line, @bridget is totally correct. An abortion can and does effect those not directly ‘on the table.’
Ironic that they call us the anti-science people.
Isn’t it? Makes it pretty clear that “science” is not their top priority.
God bless you Pilli. I hope to meet your child someday in the next life. I am confident your child knows, loves, and prays for you.
Once more the MSM shows its ugly stripes. Very important post, Johnnie.