After 40 years, it looks like the daily press has finally discovered the March for Life.
The annual demonstration in Washington, D.C., to oppose the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion generally draws just about no coverage in the press. This year, it was different.
The daily papers’ websites all carried feature stories about the March for Life. Most were balanced news stories, but one in The New York Times was written from a particular bias. The Times article highlighted a recent statement by some Christian leaders that pro-lifers who oppose abortion should be just as virulently pro-life when it comes to gun control.
This is mixing apples and oranges. The immediate death of unborn babies is hardly the same as the potential danger of misusing firearms. The numbers alone tell the story. Since Roe v. Wade has been the law of the land, more than 55 million unborn babies have had their lives terminated.
The real question should have been whether or not the pro-lifers who are for gun control will be on the front lines when it comes to saving the babies. I think not.
This year’s March for Life was a huge success with estimates of the crowd hovering around half a million. Not bad when you consider the frigid temperatures and the threat of snow!
Our own pro-lifers from the diocese responded to the tune of almost 1,000 people. Eight buses were sponsored by our parent organization, DeSales Media Group, and some of those were over-subscribed. Add to that the parishes and organizations that traveled on their own or arranged for their own bus pick-ups.
Some groups, like at St. Mary’s Church, Winfield, and Presentation B.V.M., Jamaica, began their day early with Mass that preceded boarding the buses for Washington.
Bus captains reported delays retuning home not only because of the weather but also because the lines at rest stops were long due to the numbers of people participating in the march.
For those of you who could not make it to the nation’s capital, you were treated to live coverage seen on The NET, our sister cable television station. And, of course, later that evening and on the following Monday, there were feature segments about the march on our daily news show Currents.
No doubt about it, the March for Life garnered more attention this year. Perhaps, it’s the urgency of being up against the most pro-abortion president ever elected. Maybe it’s also because of the atrocity of our governor, Andrew Cuomo, fervently supporting the most radical abortion bill ever presented to the State Legislature. If you haven’t done so already, let your state representatives know your feeling. Simply join the New York State Catholic Conference’s advocacy network by logging on to www.nyscatholic.org.
The word is getting out. More and more people are professing the truth of the pro-life cause. Even the secular press is recognizing the pro-life fervor. There’s still a lot to be done, no doubt about it! But the tide is flowing in the right direction because justice and right are on the side of life.
“After these 40 years of hard work we may feel like the ‘chosen people’ of the Old Testament who wandered through the desert for 40 years,” said Bishop Kevin Farrell of Dallas as he spoke at the Life Vigil at the National Shrine.
But he urged those present to not grow discouraged and lose hope. “Moses never saw the Promised Land. Many of us who have labored for 40 years for the cause of life” may not get to see it either, Bishop Farrell added. But he assured the young people: “You will see the Promised Land.”