March for Life 2013

(photos by Daniel Tate)

For the past several years, a group of people we know have gone up to Washington DC for the March for Life, and it has never worked out in our schedule for me to go. But this year was different. This year Sarah and I both felt very strongly that we wanted to go and show our support for Life. To be counted among those hundreds of thousands of people who are not willing to stay silent. Daniel and Abigail decided to come along too, so we piled into the Tate's 15 passenger van and headed out at 6:30 yesterday morning.

The March for Life, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, is a yearly gathering where people of all faiths, really (lots of Catholics and Christians) collect on the National Mall in Washington DC and listen to speakers speaking on the topic of Life. We got there before the official starting time, and at first there weren't that many people so we were able to get rather close to the stage.

I was standing among a bunch of Catholic college students from Kansas. One particular guy had the loudest shouting voice I think I've ever heard. :D It scared me every time he bellowed!

We stood there in the freezing cold listening to the speakers, all of whom are passionate about the fact that life begins at conception, that abortion is wrong, and that it hurts the mothers as well as the children--a fact many people don't realize. Among the live speakers and video messages, we were able to hear the Speaker of the House: John Boehner, Rick Santorum, and several other notables. But my two favorite speakers were less-famous.

The Jeremiah Lorrig, please return to Miss Grace Tate at earliest opportunity. ;)

One speaker that impacted me was a nineteen year old college student named Ruben Aaoron Verastigui who has devoted his life to fighting abortion. "We are the Pro-Life Generation," he said, calling upon the thousands upon thousands of young people in the crowd to press forward. 

Jill and Grace :)

Grace and Jeremiah

Ruben reminded us that the pro-choice side is getting older and older while the pro-life side is getting younger and younger. It was so neat to hear a guy this young exhorting those of us around his age to get involved. And it was also neat to see that about half of the people there were between the ages of 17-25. :) Definitely a good show of hope for the pro-life movement. According to the Washington Post, the majority of the crowd was young people. 

I also loved hearing Ryan Bomberger, the founder of the Too Many Aborted ministry. See, Ryan has a special niche in the pro-life market. In his own words, he said: "I'm the fringe case even pro-lifers have a hard time accepting." Because Ryan was a baby born of rape. But his mother was a courageous, courageous woman and she chose to keep him. She chose to put him up for adoption, and because of that, Ryan grew up in a wonderful, loving home with parents who adopted ten other children. TEN! Isn't that amazing? His story is so inspiring, so be sure to check out his website.

When the speakers were finished and we were thoroughly frozen, we smushed and pushed and joggled ourselves out to Constitution Avenue. It took about 2 hours just to walk from the Mall to the Supreme Court building on Capitol Hill, but while we were walking, a perfect snow began. Literally perfect, crystal snowflakes that were so ornate I forgot where I was. Standing on Capitol Hill and looking back down the streets (realizing that we were in the last 2/3 of the parade anyway) was astonishing. So many people. And that gorgeous snow.

I forgot I was in DC among hundreds of thousands of people. I forgot there was anyone else there. I just stared at my beautiful snowflakes on my glove and exclaimed, "THEY'RE REAL!" (referencing snowflakes that look like the cartoon ones) which apparently occasioned a fellow marching beside me to look at me with a horrified, "You must be stupid" expression on his face. Well whatever, dude. By the time we marched all the way to the Supreme Court building, the snow had filled my hood, and was a quiet powder on the sidewalks. We parted with our good friends who live up in the DC area, and headed back to Union Station to thaw before the drive home.

It was freezing.

It was almost miserable.

But oh, was it worth it. To hear the cheers of thousands of pro-life supporters...to see the thousands of young people who are swelling the country with support for a cause that will not die with the original Roe V. Wade protesters. We prayed together. We marched together. And I am fully confident that someday we will weep together in joy as abortion is nationally recognized as murder of innocent children and is forever banned from our country.

Amen?