I purchased round-trip train tickets to Washington D.C. back in November while Amtrak was running a special. A friend and I planned to go together. We would leave Lynchburg on a very early morning train, arrive in DC late in the morning, and then walk to where the day’s activities would begin for the 48th Annual March for Life. We would listen to all the speakers and then march with hundreds of thousands of other folks from all over the country to the Supreme Court Building, voicing our cries to stop the murder of the unborn in our country. 

I had only attended one March for Life before, back in 2018. I went with my son and his wife and four children. We didn’t get far from his house before one of the children got sick and we had to go back to his house and start over again minus two people. By the time we got to Washington, another child was sick so we didn’t even get to stay till the end of the march. Two of my grandsons and I hopped into the marching line in the midst of chanting Catholic high school students. It was a great 30 minutes or so as we began chanting with them and holding up our home-made signs. I was very encouraged by the young people and their enthusiasm. Perhaps theirs is the generation that will see change. It was an exuberant crowd, a unified crowd, and most impressive, a caring, friendly, and well-behaved crowd.

My best memory, though, dates back to April 28, 1990 when my three oldest children (who were then between eight and 12) and I attended the Rally for Life. We had just moved to Pennsylvania and rode the bus with local pro-lifers to the grounds of the Washington Monument in D.C. Little did I know then that I would come to know and work with a lot of those same people through the next 30 years. But that day, I was completely amazed at the size of the crowd, estimated by the National Park Service to be 700,000, and at their friendliness, calmness, and passion for the unborn. That day my children became adamant for the cause of life.

So, it was with great anticipation that I looked forward to this year’s March. However, after the outcome of the election, I wondered what the atmosphere would be like. Would the atmosphere in Washington even be welcoming? My experience there had been under two Presidents who were very much pro-life. Last year, President Trump had been the first U.S. President to speak at the March. So much has changed since then. Still, the event’s planners kept sending emails, building us up and inviting us to come despite the pandemic.

After January 6, however, things changed. Because of the Capitol break-in that day, and the upcoming inauguration, a military presence loomed large over the city. That’s when it was decided to only have a virtual event this year, culminating in a march of pro-life leaders only—just a few hundred people—rather than the usual hundreds of thousands. 

The theme, “Together Strong—Life Unites,” though chosen long before the downsizing happened, was very appropriate. In this land so divided by many issues right now, it is a reminder that only by remaining united for the cause of life, will we continue to stand strong. This makes me think back to that Rally for Life in 1990. What most impressed me then was the unity. It was a diversified crowd, by religious faith, race, and even political party. Yet, there was no disagreement that life began at conception and that abortion was murder. None. Through the years since, I have only felt this bond grow even tighter.

Now, for the first time in eight years, we have a President and Vice President who are very unfriendly to the cause, and have already begun using our taxes to fund abortion here and abroad. As President Biden recently rescinded the policy that was in place to stop that, he commented that he was “undoing the damage Trump has done.”

Then just a day later, the 2021 March for Life took place. Event planner, Jeanne Mancini, explained as she opened the virtual program that this year’s event was meant to encourage and prepare pro-life supporters as we make our voices heard to a new administration. She hoped they might listen. The March itself would be quiet and prayerful. The symbol of the March has always been a red rose, chosen because red is a symbol of mourning, but a rose is also a sign of life and love. In the early days, young marchers delivered red roses to legislators in their offices. They hoped it would remind them to “support policies that protected and built a culture of life” (March for Life website). This year, the red rose idea was once again reborn a little differently. Each of the marchers was given one at the beginning of the march, which they carried throughout. The banner carried at the front by the marchers displayed a very large red rose.

President Biden did not acknowledge the presence of the marchers or their event. EWTN Pro-Life Weekly, did ask for his comments about the event, but received no reply. Those of us who attended the virtual event were asked to text a specific number. The number of callers would be tallied and a message sent to the President to indicate we do not share his views and actions regarding abortion. He has asked us to be united for his causes, yet recent polls show that six out of ten Americans do not want our tax money spent on abortion, and 77 percent of Americans are against funding abortion abroad.

While his administration ignored what was taking place, many congressional members did not. Mainstream media is under-reporting the democrats that are pro-life. Thankfully, they are growing in number. One, Kentucky congresswoman Angie Hatton, who is both a democrat and pro-life, spoke during the virtual program of the March. She urged Republicans to work to help fund mothers and children, noting such things as health gaps, low pay for working moms, and the high cost of child care as deterrents for carrying babies to term. She also said that concerned pro-life families should more widely consider adoption and fostering. 

Hawaii state Sen. Mike Gabbard, who is also a Democrat, was another speaker at the virtual event. I did not realize until attending this virtual program that there is an organization called Democrats for Life of America. Kristen Day is their executive director and was one of the leaders present during the actual March. In a recent interview, she said that 81 democratic pro-life candidates that her group was endorsing won their elections. “In 2021, we look forward to building on these successes to establish a bench of pro-life Democrats in local office across the nation,” she said.

When my family and I first moved to Pennsylvania, I remember well our Democratic pro-life governor, Robert Patrick Casey Sr. (January 9, 1932 – May 30, 2000). At the 1992 Democratic convention, Gov. Casey was forbidden to speak to the delegates to oppose the party’s platform on abortion that declared it a “fundamental right deserving government financing.” He left the convention, disappointed and frustrated with the Democratic Party. During that same convention, Bill Clinton was nominated to be the Democratic candidate, embracing that platform. It is encouraging to know that the list of Democrats for Life is now strengthening, and we’re able to face the opposition with unified support. 

Another speaker during the virtual March for Life was Focus on the Family’s, Jim Daly. He noted the number of ultrasounds this organization has placed in pregnancy resource centers (PRC’s). Earlier in the program, it was also mentioned that the Knights of Columbus have purchased and placed 1,300 machines in centers. By offering free ultrasounds to women considering abortion during their first weeks of pregnancy, over 70 percent of these women ultimately choose to carry their babies. 

Focus on the Family also places free literature into pregnancy resource centers. “The First Nine Months” and “Healthy Pregnancy” were two brochures we gave our clients at the PRC’s where I worked. After a client’s pregnancy test, I would open “The First Nine Months” to the pages that contained clear and colorful photographs of babies in the womb, closest to the number of weeks pregnant the client was at the time. The clients never failed to be completely enamored.

Viewers at the March for Life were given much information about pregnancy resource centers and their successes in helping to support pregnant women and their children. Time and time again, the speakers mentioned not only staying strong in their activism to change laws but to help women at the grass roots level through supporting and volunteering at PRC’s, teaching our children kindness, respect, and the value of life, and by becoming more involved in fostering and adoption. 

Many pro-life groups were represented during the virtual presentation. Former NFL player, Benjamin Watson and his wife Kristen, who have founded The One More Foundation, spoke about how our opponents wish to “exterminate life for financial gain and power.” We must “operate in kindness and mercy.” 

Kay Cole James, President of The Heritage Foundation, said, “We need to raise our voices, to advocate for the unborn—precious children who have no voices themselves.”

Kat Commack, Congresswoman from Florida, urged viewers to “Never lose faith, no matter how unpopular you might be.” She told her personal story about how doctors warned her mother to never get pregnant again after she suffered a stroke while she was pregnant with Kat’s sister. When she later became pregnant with Kat, doctors told her to abort or she could die. Her mother’s passion to forge ahead despite the doctor’s advice created a passion for life in Kat.

Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood clinic director and founder and president of Pro-Love Ministries, encouraged us with the words that “the most powerful organization is the Church.” Not any political or government agency. One goal of her ministry is to take workers from the abortion industry until there are none. She is succeeding, too!

Tim Tebow, professional baseball player and former professional football player, and founder of the Tim Tebow Foundation, told his story—how his missionary parents decided to have their fifth child and his mother was told to abort because her life and the baby’s life were in great danger of not surviving the pregnancy. When Tim was born, the doctor declared it the greatest miracle he had ever seen. The placenta had not been attached to the wall of the uterus and the doctor had no explanation how the baby had been nourished and grown through the pregnancy. 

Just as his mother remained faithful in keeping her pregnancy, Tebow talked about how Jesus gave His life for ours, so that we could have abundant lives.  Quoting Hebrews 12:2, he said, “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross.” His joy was that we would be saved by what He was doing, he explained. Tebow challenged us to likewise stay faithful in our service to Christ, which includes being a voice for the unborn.

Although Star Parker, syndicated columnist and founder of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education (CURE), was not an event speaker, she was interviewed during the 150-minute streaming event while the marchers were on their way to the Supreme Court Building. I am always glad to hear from Star. The first time I heard her speak was at the first Care Net Conference I ever attended. She told her story that day. She is a black conservative leader whose roots began in an urban ghetto. Drugs, sex, numerous abortions, and purposelessness, summed up her life. Then, as she said during her interview at the event, “God saved me. Cleaned me up. Now I’m a grandma.” Star calls things like she sees them and said about our new President, “We are up against evil.” She compared the issue of abortion to the issue of slavery and reminded us that “God is on our side. Truth is on our side. Do what you have been called to do,” she advocated.

So, the March began. A somber group. A prayerful group. A group with unified intent to inspire their watchers to take action in their own communities, and to let legislators and the new president know this pro-life group was not going away. There was a police escort both in front of and behind the marchers, who were also flanked on the sides by uniformed Knights of Columbus. Along the way, a group was waiting for them on the sidewalk—a more vocal group that quickly fell in behind. At first, they began with the usual chants, but were soon won over by the tone that had been set by the pro-life leaders. They raised their voices together to sing “Amazing Grace” and as they came upon the Supreme Court Building, they quietly laid down their roses on the sidewalk.

Someone had quoted Mother Teresa during the event when she had said “Saying there are too many children is like saying there are too many flowers.” However, my favorite Mother Teresa quote is when she spoke at the national prayer breakfast in 1994, attended by then-President and Mrs. Clinton. “But I feel that the greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion, because it is a war against the child, a direct killing of the innocent child, murder by the mother herself." What courageous words spoken in the presence of the enemy!

I thought about them as I watched the red roses piling up on the sidewalk, reminding me of the blood shed by over 62 million unborn babies, lives extinguished before they could taste life outside the womb. I wondered if the President or Vice President were watching, seeing the signs carried by the marchers pleading for the lives of unborn children. In the simplicity and quietness of those last moments of the 2021 March for Life, the newly constructed fence around the Supreme Court Building looking as though it were a prison with positioned National Guardsmen looking on, the marchers made the biggest possible impact. They prayed.

Take a quick look at this report of the January 29th March for Life.