TOPICS:
2023 March for Life
Jan 20, 2023 / Written by: America Needs Fatima
First Annual Post-Roe March for Life
The tide has turned in our favor, but we will not stop marching for the unborn until EVERY child is safe in EVERY state in the nation.
This sentiment was held by hundreds of thousands of Americans as once again pro-lifers descended on the nation’s capital on the Saturday closest to the infamous SCOUS decision referred to for 50 years now as Roe v Wade.
The fact that this erroneous decision was finally overturned in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) does not mean that the war has been won. Far from it. The battle continues for the legal protection of every American citizen, born and unborn. And now the battlefield can be found in each of the 50 states.
Realizing that this is the time to press the advance and never give up, the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property, along and with its sister organization, America Needs Fatima, joined the marchers. The familiar 9-foot-tall red banners displaying the gold rampant lion, a long-time symbol of courage in an uncompromising situation, could be seen once again by all in attendance.
The Holy Guardian Angels Marching Band took its customary place in the March, encouraging all within earshot to walk resolutely and without compromise, bearing witness to the value of every human life, most especially those whose lives will be lost due to the desperate and often selfish choice of another. The sound of Scottish bagpipes and the pageantry of those dressed in marching regalia lent a profound seriousness to the day.
Along with the banners and marching band, another stable presence appeared at the 2023 March for Life: the America Needs Fatima name banner. Beginning in 2014, friends and supporters of ANF were offered a chance to add their names to the banner as a way of being present with their fellow pro-life brothers and sisters in spirit. 2023 was no different, boasting a marvelous response and thousands of names added to this year’s banner.
And you made this possible by your prayers, sacrifice and generous help!
Spirits were high on this January 20th. Bolstered by seeing the seemingly impossible become possible with the recent Dobbs decision, many second-and even third-generation pro-life Americans turned out! Everywhere young people and families were proof that the movement has a future. Pro-abortion counter-protesters were nowhere to be found.
Always peaceful, always prayerful, it never ceases to impress how a gathering of so many men, women and children can take place without any injury or insult amongst the participants. Always there is a spirit of camaraderie and compassion; never does one witness an act of impatience or frustration, even (or especially) with the overwhelming number of young children present.
Darting among the marchers could be found a dozen or so members of America Needs Fatima, passing out flyers entitled, Moving Forward to the Next Phase in the Pro-Life Crusade. Thousands of inspirational flyers found their way into hands willing to take them home and share them with the like-minded and as well as those sitting on the fence of the pro-life issue. One passage from the flyer bears repeating here:
“Thus, a post-Roe America must reject the entire sexual revolution. From contraception and no-fault divorce to the present LGBTQ+ agenda in all its moral horror. Just as pro-life Americans cannot rest while procured abortion remains legal in any part of the country, a post-Roe America must not rest until every last moral destruction wrought by the sexual revolution has been reversed.
“We must recognize that procured abortion is the effect of a profound revolt against God’s moral law. Society will have no true peace or order until this rebellion is quelled.”
Late in the afternoon, as the banners were taken down and the Holy Guardian Angels Marching Band put away its instruments, a hush fell over those with whom I traveled to the 2023 March for Life. Settled into the seats on our bus and heading for home, as one we drew out our rosaries and began, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost…” It is necessary now more than ever to increase our resolve and to increase our prayers to the Father of all, that He will bless America with the honor of being entirely and unreservedly pro-life.
