Garden City Residents Witness For Life in Washington

“Members of St. Joseph’s Respect Life Society participate in the largest March For Life in 37 years. More than 300,000 Americans traveled to the US Capital on January 22nd.” On Friday, January 22nd, members of Garden City’s St. Joseph’s Respect Life Society participated in the 37th March For Life in Washington, DC. The annual event marks the memorial anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe vs. Wade ruling which overturned all state laws that banned abortion. The Roe vs. Wade case, along with its companion case, Doe vs. Bolton, legalized abortion for the entire nine months of a baby’s development.

March For Life organizers reported that the size of the crowd was in excess of 300,000 - an all time high - with prolife Americans traveling to the nation’s capital from such distant states as Texas, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Tennessee, Maine, Louisiana, and Illinois. Long Island was represented by more than a thousand prolifers.

For the past three years, a special dimension within the March For Life has emerged; namely, the Silent No More Awareness Campaign. Founded by Priests for Life and Anglicans For Life, the group’s membership is comprised of women and men who have experienced abortions in their lives, and who have come to regret their abortion decisions.

At the conclusion of the March For Life, many dozens of Silent No More women and men demonstrated extraordinary courage by stepping before a podium and microphone at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, to share with the thousands gathered in the street, their heart wrenching stories about their abortions. Each professed great remorse, and at the same time healing. One speaker shared that she was comforted by, “God’s mercy and forgiveness that has helped heal me.” Some of the speakers explained that they had found comfort within the Catholic Church’s Project Rachel healing ministry.

Said a member of the St. Joseph’s Respect Life Society, “Our nation is recognizing that unborn children must be protected and that mothers and fathers who have experienced abortions need our understanding and love. These men and women are powerful voices for the return of legal protection to unborn children. Where there is love, there is hope and life.”