Fox News | by Maureen Mackey | January 21, 2023
‘March for Life was a hopeful sight’ as pro-life advocates continue to speak out for the rights of the unborn
With this year’s March for Life just concluded while many other pro-life activities are continuing this weekend, faith leaders and others around the country continue to speak out about the importance of fighting for the most innocent Americans, even in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on June 24, 2022, to overturn both Roe v. Wade and the subsequent case, Planned Parenthood v. Casey.
“This year’s March for Life was a hopeful sight,” Patrick Purtill, director of legislative affairs for the Faith & Freedom Coalition, told Fox News Digital on Saturday via email.
“Even in a post-Roe world, there was a large crowd dominated by young, joyful advocates for life,” he said, referencing the march in Washington, D.C., on Friday.
“The pro-life generation is alive and well,” he said.
“The march was undeniably a celebration — but one that reminded all in attendance that the fight for life will continue.”
Participants in the March for Life 2023 in Washington, D.C., are shown on Friday, Jan. 20, 2023 — the first March for Life to take place in a post-Roe world. Pro-life activists say there is much work still to be done. (Brooke Curto/Fox News Digital)
The Faith & Freedom Coalition is a national grassroots movement based in Duluth, Georgia, of over 2 million conservatives and people of faith who “support time-honored values, stronger families and individual freedom,” the group says.
Rev. Dean Nelson, the Washington, D.C.-based vice president of government relations at the Human Coalition, a pro-life nonprofit, told Fox News Digital, “As we marched on this historic day — the 50th annual March for Life — we celebrated the repeal of Roe v. Wade, but we also recognize that the fight to protect life is not over.”
Nelson added in an email on Saturday, “Women are still seeking out abortion for the same reasons they were before. Half the states allow abortion throughout all or most of [the] pregnancy.”
Rev. Nelson also noted, “In our work, 76% of abortion-determined women say they would prefer to parent [their children] if their circumstances were different.”
It is why, he said, “we will redouble our efforts to serve these women and rescue their children — and thereby make abortion unthinkable and unnecessary.”
In a video he shared on his Twitter account, Rev. Franklin Graham, the CEO and president of Samaritan’s Purse as well as of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, said of the events on Friday, “This is the first March for Life since Roe v. Wade was defeated, and we’re so grateful to God for what he has done and what he’s continuing to do.”
Rev. Graham also said, during the march itself as he walked with family and friends through the streets of D.C., “What we’re doing is taking a stand for life.”
He added, “God gave life. He created life — and so it’s important to be here and take this stand.”
Art Ally, founder and president of Timothy Plan in Maitland, Florida, told Fox News Digital earlier, “Thanks be to God that the Supreme Court’s conservative majority finally rectified a nearly 50-year mistake that has cost millions of lives, wounded millions of mothers and rent the cultural fabric of our nation.”
Ally added, “The battle has moved to the states — where we pray that pro-life protections will quickly be enacted in as many jurisdictions as possible.”
Sunday, Jan. 22, 2023, marks the 50th anniversary since the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision that codified the right to an abortion in the U.S.
It is also the annual Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children, as celebrated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
The day is set aside to pray for human life and “to do penance for the violations to human dignity” through the act of abortion, the USCCB says on its website.
“While God, in his mercy, ended the nearly 50-year nationwide regime of abortion on demand, right now state and federal laws, in many instances, are still hostile to pre-born children. So, great prayer and advocacy is very needed,” the USCCB also says.
