Blog | Subscribe | Free Trial | Contact Us | Cart | Donate | Planned Giving
Log In | Search
facebook
rss
twitter
  • CURRENT
    • Winter 2025 PDF
    • WINTER 2025 HTML
    • THE HUMAN LIFE REVIEW HTML COLLECTION PAGE
    • NEWSworthy: What’s Happening and What It Means to You
    • Blog
    • Pastoral Reflections
    • About Us
  • DINNER
    • GREAT DEFENDER OF LIFE DINNER 2025
  • ARCHIVE
    • Archive Spotlight
    • ISSUES IN HTML FORMAT
  • LEGACY
    • Planned Giving: Wills, Trusts, and Gifts of Stock
  • SHOP
    • Your Cart: Shipping is ALWAYS Free!

From the Website

Back to Winter 2024
0 Comment

Forward Into the Culture of Death

Brian Caulfield
March for Life 2024
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

 

The March for Life never disappoints. No matter the state of the union, the status of legislation at the federal and state level, or the twisted rhetoric of Planned Parenthood and the mainstream media, there is no denying the joyful, dauntless witness of tens of thousands of prolifers joining voices and forces in the nation’s capital. This year’s theme, “Pro-Life: With Every Woman, For Every Child,” underscores the focus in the post-Roe fight, when the energies of the movement must be concentrated on the states and the individual woman in a crisis pregnancy.  With some 100,000 marching in D.C. on Jan. 19—along with the important work of pro-life pregnancy centers, prayer groups, and sidewalk counselors outside abortion clinics—it is evident every day that this theme is more than rhetoric. It is an ethic to live by.

True, the nation has not moved in a decidedly pro-life direction since Roe was overruled in June 2022. Some politicians and leaders have seemed caught on their heels by the Dobbs decision, uncertain of the best strategy and message going forward. Should they take the principled stand and push states to ban all abortions because it’s the right and just thing to do? After all, how could prolifers, who for 50 years had railed against Roe with heartfelt appeals and proofs of the humanity of the child in the womb, suddenly compromise on the issue? Or should they recognize the political reality in most states and settle for imperfect laws that allow abortion up to a certain stage in pregnancy?

We also seemed to lose the early debates to the pro-abortion media machine by failing to explain clearly to the public the difference between abortion and miscarriage, and how medical treatment can be provided for pregnant women with a cancerous womb or an ectopic pregnancy under the principle of double-effect. Of course, these moral issues are difficult to explain even in scholarly journals, never mind in making appeals to short attention spans in a culture of sound bites and memes.

Still, despite missteps and opposition, the March for Life goes on, now 51 years old and joined by state marches. It continues because human life—always perpetuating new life and reproducing itself in new hope and energy—cannot be suppressed. Prolifers march for something that cannot be denied, even by our adamant opponents: We all treasure our lives because life is, ultimately, something good. The right to life is the most evident of the self-evident truths our nation is founded upon. That is the force behind the March that transcends any agenda on either side of the debate. Without life—nothing. And so, we march—forward into the culture of death.

At the Mass for Life the evening before the March, thousands filled the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to hear Bishop Michael Burbidge of Arlington, Va., set the tone for the event: Roe, the original reason for the March, is no more, but Dobbs does not mean the end. There is more work to do at state and personal levels. “Our message must be uncompromisingly true and unfailingly charitable,” said Bishop Burbidge, chairman of the U.S. Bishops’ Secretariat on Pro-Life Activities.

Last Friday was cold and snowy, yet spirits were high, as always. The enthusiasm of the young people was infectious and the speakers at the noon rally on the National Mall were both informative and inspiring. March for Life President Jeanne Mancini was as upbeat and telegenic as ever, telling marchers they were involved in history’s largest and longest-running civil rights event. Politicians, famous athletes and coaches, religious figures, and stalwart pro-life leaders took the stage. House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana revealed, “I am the product of an unplanned pregnancy,” explaining that he was born to teenage parents who chose life. Looking out at the crowd, he said he saw “a beautiful picture of America,” with tens of thousands gathered to “celebrate life and what it means to be an American.”

New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith reported that the House just passed a bill to prevent the Biden administration from cutting off federal funds to pro-life pregnancy centers offering alternatives to abortion, pointing out that they have the support of a large majority of Americans.

Yet despite some promising polls and having the truth—and so many young people—on our side, the fight for life will always be an uphill battle. Our opponents, in the grip of an evil we dismiss at our peril, will not rest. Far from suffering a setback with the Dobbs decision, they used the occasion to galvanize support and spread fear into even so-called red states that should be a bulwark for the pro-life movement. As Senator Marco Rubio reminded us in his memo on pro-life strategy released last week, our cause has lost seven of seven state ballot initiatives since Dobbs. He proposes a reset of political, communications, and cultural strategies, summed up in three simple steps: 1) “develop and fight for a compassionate, pro-family agenda that counters caricatures of our beliefs and makes life easier for mothers and their children”; 2) “put Democrats on the defensive about their extreme support for abortion” up to the time of birth; 3) “tell the truth about what abortion is—the taking of innocent life—and advocate limits to the practice.”

Of course, for many years multitudes of prolifers have been doing all three at both the personal and grassroots level. Now it’s time for national and local legislators to back up the people on the ground with appropriate legislation and uncompromising principles. Nothing less than human life hangs in the balance.

40 people have visited this page. 1 have visited this page today.
About the Author
Brian Caulfield

Brian Caulfield is a communications specialist with the Knights of Columbus in New Haven, Conn., and editor of the website Fathers for Good (www.fathersforgood.org).

Social Share

  • google-share

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Comments will not be posted until approved by a moderator in an effort to prevent spam and off-topic responses.

*
*

captcha *

Get the Human Life Review

subscribe to HLR
The-Human-Life-Foundation
DONATE TODAY!

Recent Posts

Israeli Supreme Court Minimizes Biological Parenthood

22 May 2025

Pro-life Groups Can’t be Forced to Accommodate Abortions, Federal Judge Rules

14 May 2025

Yonkers Woman Learns Abortion is Not the ‘Quick Fix’ She Thought 

12 May 2025

CURRENT ISSUE

Alexandra DeSanctis Anne Conlon Anne Hendershott Bernadette Patel Brian Caulfield Christopher White Clarke D. Forsythe Colleen O’Hara Connie Marshner David Mills David Poecking David Quinn Diane Moriarty Dr. Donald DeMarco Edward Mechmann Edward Short Ellen Wilson Fielding Fr. Gerald E. Murray George McKenna Helen Alvaré Jacqueline O’Hara Jane Sarah Jason Morgan Joe Bissonnette John Grondelski Kristan Hawkins Madeline Fry Schultz Maria McFadden Maffucci Marvin Olasky Mary Meehan Mary Rose Somarriba Matt Lamb Nat Hentoff Nicholas Frankovich Peter Pavia Rev. George G. Brooks Rev. Paul T. Stallsworth Rev. W. Ross Blackburn Stephen Vincent Tara Jernigan Ursula Hennessey Victor Lee Austin Vincenzina Santoro Wesley J. Smith William Murchison

Shop 7 Weeks Coffee--the Pro-Life Coffee Company!
Support 7 Weeks Coffee AND the Human Life Foundation!
  • Issues
  • Human Life Foundation Blog
  • About Us
  • Free Trial Issue
  • Contact Us
  • Shop
  • Planned Giving
  • Annual Human Life Foundation Dinner

Follow Us On Twitter

Follow @HumanLifeReview

Find Us On Facebook

Human Life Review/Foundation

Search our Website

Contact Information

The Human Life Foundation, Inc.
The Human Life Review
271 Madison Avenue, Room 1005
New York, New York 10016
(212) 685-5210

Copyright (c) The Human Life Foundation.