The Valley Catholic February 5, 2019 | Page 13
tvc.dsj.org | February 5, 2019
13
COMMENTARY
After the March for Life – Keep Walking!
By Tony Magliano
Internationally syndicated social jus-
tice and peace columnist
[email protected]
In the more than 30 annual Washington, D.C.
Marches for Life I have participated in, I always
think the current march is the largest ever. But since
accurate fi gures are hard to come by, it usually comes
down to taking a good guess.
But a 60-second time-lapse video produced by
Students for Life of America clearly reveals, regardless
of the exact number, that this year’s March fl owed on
and on (check it out https://bit.ly/2Hu3sC2).
It’s heartening to see that lots of people care. But
do we really care enough?
As important as they are, the annual Washington
March for Life, Walk for Life West Coast, Midwest
March for Life (Feb. 2) and dozens of similar events
at state capitols throughout the U.S., are simply not
enough.
I remember some years ago, just before our bus
left for the March for Life, a well-meaning priest
congratulated us for doing our yearly duty to protest
abortion and protect unborn life. While he certainly
meant well, he didn’t quite grasp the horrifi c reality
that the approximate 900,000 brutal abortions each
year in the U.S. (see: https://bit.ly/2snR4vE), and the
estimated 56 million annual abortions worldwide (see:
https://bit.ly/2R6xsDr) – urgently requires various
ongoing eff orts throughout the entire year.
While many marchers actively work to end abor-
tion and support women in diffi cult pregnancies
throughout the year, many do not.
Years ago, the late Nellie Gray, who founded the
March for Life, told me that if just Catholics alone
tirelessly stood up and demanded an end to abortion,
it would end!
We would do well to walk in
the footsteps of the nonviolent
Jesus and his early followers,
proclaiming in word and deed
that no life is disposable, and
that every person is a beloved
child of the God of life!
But sadly, we are not paying enough attention to
this tragedy. Perhaps after all these years of legalized
abortion, we have gotten somewhat use to it.
Homilists rarely rally us around the plight of our
tiny unborn brethren – or for that matter the plight
of our war-torn, hungry, poor, homeless, migrant,
sick sisters and brothers, and the environmentally
wounded planet we all share.
Abortion centers have very few people, and often
no one, standing in peaceful, prayerful witness on
behalf of the unborn babies being killed within these
so-called clinics.
Education at all levels regarding the barbaric
reality of abortion (see: www.abortionno.org),
and the miraculous wonder of human develop-
ment from the moment of conception onward (see:
http://bit.ly/1XezTp2) is not suffi ciently happening.
Legislators are not being swamped throughout
the year with phone calls, email and text messages
insisting that they pass legislation to protect the most
vulnerable human beings among us.
We absolutely need to put political pressure on our
elected offi cials to do the morally right thing. For as
the saying goes and is true in most cases, “Politicians
don’t see the light until they feel the heat.” We need
to turn up the heat!
Even new born infants are less vulnerable than
unborn babies, for it is a rare person who will murder
the helpless baby he or she can see.
But in this case there is light at the end of the tun-
nel. A wonderful international eff ort by the Knights of
Columbus has provided 1,000 ultrasound machines to
pregnancy centers and pro-life health clinics through-
out the U.S. and in several countries, thus allowing
mothers and fathers to see their miraculous unborn
babies (see: https://bit.ly/2QIVtjX)
We would do well to walk in the footsteps of the
nonviolent Jesus and his early followers, proclaiming
in word and deed that no life is disposable, and that
every person is a beloved child of the God of life!
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