Warren Marching for Life with the Capitol building behind him.
Today’s post comes from Warren D’Souza of University of Illinois. Warren is a freshman and is the treasurer for his pro-life group, Illini Collegians for Life (ICFL).
ICFL is growing to have a greater influence on campus and we are looking forward to great things from Warren! Here is his story from this year’s March for Life trip.
Enter Warren…
We!
Are!
The Pro-Life Generation!
The thunderous chant began in front of the Supreme Court building and echoed all the way down First Street. Thousands of young people from across the country marched together peacefully just days after the 40th anniversary of legalized abortion in our country.
We bore only smiles and optimistic cheers proclaiming the glory of life; not a single mournful or enraged face could be seen in the crowd despite this being the week that marked the death of 55 million unborn children in our generation.
From the beginning of the rally we were told that all of us were survivors: These 55 million could have grown up to be our friends, spouses, siblings, coworkers… many of them should even have been marching alongside us. But though we mourned our lost brothers and sisters, we could not keep from celebrating the beauty of life that we were given, and our desire to defend that gift for every human being.
When I told my dorm friends I was heading to Washington, D.C. for the weekend with fellow pro-life students of the University of Illinois, the response I seemed to get most often was, “What’s the point of marching? It won’t make abortion illegal.” It’s a fair question. I pondered it myself on the 14-hour bus ride to D.C. with all my pro-life friends.
But then I arrived at the March for Life, and the answer immediately became clear to me.
The word of the day was solidarity.
We were not marching merely to garner attention from the Supreme Court justices or the pro-choice politicians. We were marching for ourselves, for our mothers, for our sisters who are targeted by the abortion machines of today, for those who were taken by abortion too soon to be marching at our sides, for all those who say they are pro-life but don’t yet have the courage to march with us.
It’s true; simply walking down the streets of D.C. will not be enough to end abortion. But the March for Life is an absolutely necessary element in building solidarity among the pro-life movement – solidarity between the generations, between the genders, between the social classes, between the living and dead.
It’s hard not to be proud and vocal about your pro-life stance when you are surrounded by over 400,000 passionate, screaming young adults around your age who are all fighting for the injustice to end.
Returning from the March, I am more confident than ever that we will see the end to abortion in our lifetime. I refuse to believe that such a nationally united movement will ever collapse, and no matter how long of a fight we must endure, we will persevere together. After an entire 40-year generation has suffered through abortion before us, it is time for the pro-life generation to arise.
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Thank you Warren for your insight and your commitment to life!
To everyone reading, how can you foster solidarity among the pro-lifers around you?
Post your suggestions below!
“Her friends immediately scheduled an abortion for her…”
Enter Bethany…
Erika was only 16 when she found out she was pregnant.
Her friends immediately scheduled an abortion for her at the nearest clinic. She was, after all, only a Junior in high school. She had so much against her in this situation and her whole life ahead of her.
But, when she told her parents, they told her that they would never want her to abort her child, and that they would help her raise him.
With this support, she chose not to have an abortion.
She chose life.
As a 16 year old junior in high school, Erika gave up so much for her baby, but she courageously chose to stand up to anyone who said she could not or should not take care of a baby.
Leading up to my trip to the March for Life, I found myself thinking about Erika and her baby in the womb constantly. She was due on January 23, so all day on January 22 I kept thinking, “Wouldn’t it be cool if he was born on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade?”
The day passed with no news, but I still couldn’t get them off my mind.
On Friday morning, as we drove into DC, I found out that Erika was in labor. This was my third March, but for the first time, there was a real, individual face – a young mother – in my life who I was marching for.
Walking in the cold, I couldn’t think about anything or anyone else. I was there for one young girl from my hometown who chose life.
The next day, during the SFLA conference, I was able to access facebook, where I was finally able to see pictures of Erika’s baby Steven. He was born on Friday, January 25 at 2:37 pm, during the 40th March for Life.
Having the names and faces of Erika and Steven, real examples of the people we fight for, made the experience of the March for Life and the pro-life movement so much more powerful for me.
In choosing life for her baby boy, one 17 year old girl changed my life.
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Thank you, Bethany, for sharing this story!
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