Why March for Life?
Originally published in The Catholic Witness
The March for Life in Washington, D.C., is now the longest sustained public demonstration in American history. It has drawn between 10,000 and 1,000,000 peaceful, prayerful participants since 1974. The annual procession from the Ellipse to the United States Supreme Court building has now become a Washington fixture. Many government officials strategically schedule themselves and their staff to be out of town; even the president has left Washington the day before the March and returned the day after. In its early days, the March drew national media attention, but not so much anymore. Some major news agencies ignore it altogether. The National Parks Service doesn’t count its numbers, and doesn’t mention it on its day book. Many see in this a deliberate attempt to make the March insignificant and curtail its influence. Others say it’s just because it’s been around so long.
The obvious question is, “Why march?” If it doesn’t garner the public attention it once did, if it has not persuaded the High Court, Congress or the president to change the law, wouldn’t it be better to try something else?
It is still important, perhaps now more than ever before, to march for life. The March, and, more specifically, the marchers, have come to serve as a symbol, an expression, a “Sign of Contradiction,” if you will, calling to mind the national sin against innocent lives and restating, over and again, the unalienable and inviolable right to life which belongs to every human being, especially the innocent unborn. It is also a sign of the collective conscience. Each of us knows the unfortunate human condition expressed by St. Paul in his Letter to the Romans, “For I do not do the good I want, but I do the evil I do not want.” (Rom 7:19) When we as individuals commit sin, our consciences are alerted, assemble themselves and rise up against the sin, driving us to repentance, amendment of life and reconciliation. The marchers are like a collective conscience in society. Conscious of the intrinsic evil of abortion, euthanasia and other horrible attacks against innocent life, the marchers assemble themselves, rise up against the sin of killing innocents and call the nation to reversal, amendment of national policy and restoration of the right to life.
Such public demonstrations, which include the extensive coordination and cooperation between so many individuals, social institutions and the Church is a very healthy and much needed exercise in a culture that overemphasizes selfish interests and personal gratification, even at the expense of the abandonment, exploitation and suffering of others. The March is an antidote for the toxin of selfishness and ignorance of the plight of the innocent victims and their families. Elected and appointed officials and all those who responsible for public policy are reminded by 50,000-plus students, families, teachers, first responders, health care workers, religious, clergy and many other members of the American family that they have a positive obligation to defend and protect the most innocent and vulnerable members of that family. The marchers put flesh and blood on an otherwise abstract debate about morality and policy. Every marcher, after all, was an embryo, a fetus. Many marchers are members of the “Silent No More Awareness Campaign,” women who were victimized by abortion expressing their regret and calling on others not to make the same mistake.
The March for Life remains a very important and meaningful effort to exercise our national conscience and urges everyone concerned to do all they can to protect and save as many innocent human lives as possible and save the moral and social fabric that is foundational to a just and enduring society.
Once again this year, hundreds will be travelling together by bus and others carpooling to participate in the March. For the location and time of National March for Life, see http://www.marchforlife.org/march-with-us/details. Here’s to Marching with you on Thursday, Jan. 22 at 1 p.m. in Washington, D.C!
(Father Paul CB Schenck is Diocesan Director of Respect Life Activities and chairman of the National Pro-Life Action Center in Washington, D.C.)
For additional writing from members and associates of the St. Gabriel Respect Life group, see below:
https://stgabrielcarlisle.squarespace.com/our-pro-life-views-1/