New Hope for the Sanctity of All Life

Less than a week after last Saturday’s much-hailed Women’s March, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in Washington to attend the March for Life on Friday, Jan. 27. It marked the 44th annual March for Life, a physical demonstration and spiritual call to value all human life.

Unlike the Women’s March, which was powerful but chaotic in its purpose and often hateful in its messaging, the March for Life was focused on the clear theme of respect and compassion for all life.

“Compassion is overcoming convenience and hope is defeating despair.”

As counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway stated, the first right in the Declaration of Independence is the right to life. “It is a right, not a privilege,” Conway said. For pro-life supporters, the foundation of their belief is that life is a gift from God — all life is shaped by the hand of God, our Creator. Human value and worth comes from Him.

Vice President Mike Pence reminded the crowd last week that America’s Founding Fathers wrote that we are endowed by our Creator — and that life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are given to us. He assured the audience that the Trump administration was dedicated to ending taxpayer funding of abortions and abortion providers. Pence also reassured the audience that the new Supreme Court justice to be nominated to President Trump would value life.

Pence stated his belief that a society should be judged by its protection of the most vulnerable: the aged, infirm, disabled, and unborn — and that we should have respect and compassion for every American. “Life is winning,” declared Pence. Life is winning through the advance of science, the generosity of families who open their homes and hearts through adoption, through crisis pregnancy centers and faith-based organizations who minister to women, and through telling truth.

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“Compassion is overcoming convenience and hope is defeating despair,” Pence told all those gathered. But with that passion, he also made a call for gentleness. He called for love, not anger, compassion instead of confrontation, generosity rather than judgment.

Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) said, “Every time we kill a child through abortion, we kill our potential … We lose a little of ourselves and a whole lot of our future.” The lives aborted were potentially the great future leaders of our country and the world. The actions taken to kill those lives were and are a mark of disgrace on our society.

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) announced that she would re-introduce legislation to redirect Planned Parenthood funding to other eligible women’s health care providers, as well as a bill to stop Title X, which ensures federal funding to Planned Parenthood. These actions would show respect for all women, including every mother and the innocent, defenseless unborn.

Related: Pence: ‘Life Is Winning Again in America’

Actress Karyne Lozano noted that through her experience with doctors who encouraged her family to quicken her father’s death by euthanasia, she became pro-life. She called for the preservation of family values in the Latino community, noting that abortion targets minorities.

Benjamin Watson, a tight end for the Baltimore Ravens (of the National Football League), said, “Truth is greater than any trend.” He instructed the crowd to remember the power of loving kindness, a commitment to justice, the call to righteousness — and that grace is sufficient to cover any fault.

There was even a moment of prayer for Madonna, led by author and radio host Eric Mataxas. He prayed that she would be enlightened by the love of God.

The crowd and the speakers were passionate, strong, determined, and convicted — but also respectful and compassionate. There was no hate, only hope for a change in the laws of our country and the hearts of our citizens.

With the momentum from the March for Life and the administration’s focus on a pro-life agenda, the future looks bright for the movement.

Katie Nations, married for 15 years, is a working mother of three young children. She lives in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.