Since 1974, a year after the Roe v. Wade decision to legalize abortion on demand, Americans have gathered every year in Washington, D.C., to mark the occasion and lobby their elected representatives for laws to protect the unborn.
This year, a global pandemic and the increased burdens facing law enforcement in our nation’s capital require pro-lifers to forgo the usual March for Life gathering Friday and instead participate in events online and in their local communities.
But the virtual nature of the event doesn’t change the urgency of the cause for the pro-life movement.
A new administration and Congress are poised to roll back protections for the unborn and do even more to promote abortion, including ending the bipartisan Hyde Amendment to allow for the direct taxpayer funding of abortions.
President Joe Biden has also promised to reinstate an additional $60 million a year in taxpayer funding to Planned Parenthood through the Title X family planning program.
In addition, the administration is rapidly working to reinstate U.S. taxpayer funding to foreign abortion groups, such as Planned Parenthood International, that former President Donald Trump had halted.
Biden is also expected to reinstate funding for the United Nations Population Fund—funding that was ended under Trump because of its complicity in China’s “family planning” programs that include forced abortions and sterilizations.
The Biden administration also will likely revoke a regulation that provides robust enforcement of conscience rights laws that protect health care providers from being forced to perform or participate in abortions.
And perhaps most consequential of all, Biden and the Democrats in Congress may end up “packing” the Supreme Court—adding more justices to the existing nine—to produce a left-wing majority and ensure that future abortion decisions come down in favor of the abortion industry, not in favor of protecting children in the womb, and never in favor of women’s safety when it conflicts with the abortion agenda.
One way politicians have convinced many Americans to accept such an agenda is to repeat the lie that the life in the womb isn’t a life at all. It is merely a “clump of cells.” That kind of dehumanization against whole classes of people is what made slavery and the Jim Crow era possible, along with a long list of other human atrocities throughout the world’s history.
Such a disregard for the truth makes it easier to argue that abortion—the taking of a human life—is now “essential health care.”
The March for Life is an opportunity for millions of pro-life Americans to join together to debunk these lies for their friends and families and instead spread the undeniable truth: that from the moment of fertilization, a new human life is formed with its own unique set of DNA separate and distinct from its parents; that what’s in a woman’s womb is a living, growing child, not a random tissue mass. Science long ago proved this, and it is simply beyond dispute.
Educating Americans about these facts is an important way to build a legion of voices to push back against a president and Congress who ignore them, and that’s one way to try to stop such a destructive agenda.
In addition to joining the virtual March for Life and participating in locally organized marches in their own communities, individuals can commit to use their time, talents, and resources to create a culture of life no matter where they are.
Consider helping your local pregnancy resource center by volunteering or by donating diapers, formula, and other supplies for moms and babies in need.
Talk to your children about why every human life has worth and how abortion violently destroys that life.
Be prepared to explain to your elected officials that life—our most basic civil right—should be protected in public policy.
These are just some of the things you can do to make a difference this week and throughout the year.
The pro-life cause is united in its fight for the most vulnerable and defenseless among us. Whether it’s working against legalizing taxpayer-funded abortion, funneling more money to domestic and foreign abortion groups, or undermining religious liberty and rights of conscience, the pro-life movement will face these challenges together.
The March for Life, though virtual, can go a long way toward helping pro-lifers deepen their commitment to their cause, exposing a destructive political agenda, and bringing millions more voices to their side.
Have an opinion about this article? To sound off, please email [email protected] and we will consider publishing your remarks in our regular “We Hear You” feature.
