Nearly 50,000 pro-lifers braved a blizzard to join the March for Life rally in Washington DC last week.
Among the speakers was Patrick Kelly, Knights of Columbus vice president for public policy, who said opponents of the pro-life movement “insist on dividing and bullying those who disagree with them by speaking of a fictional war on women”.
He said: “Our movement, the movement to protect human life, is different. It is built by you, the grass roots. We come here to show that we cannot be intimidated.”
Republican Chris Smith, co-chairman of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, praised efforts by state legislatures. “The gains have been historic – 282 pro-life laws have been enacted since 2010 including laws to stop dismemberment abortions, require a 72-hour waiting period, and informed consent.”
Mr Smith, a Catholic, said the House of Representatives would vote on whether to override President Barack Obama’s recent veto of a bill removing all federal funding from Planned Parenthood next week.
The rally marked the first formal involvement in March for Life, which is held on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe vs Wade decision, which legalised abortion, by the Evangelical community.
Jim Daly, president of Focus on the Family, said: “We are grateful for your leadership on the culture of life. It’s taken us time to come to the party, but we are here with you!”
Mr Daly was also headlining the first major pro-life conference for Evangelicals to be held in conjunction with the March for Life. After the rally, participants marched up Constitution Avenue to the US Supreme Court. Marchers headed to the court as snow fell – the beginning of a snowstorm that turned into a major blizzard and left at least two feet of snow in Washington.
Baby left in manger is sign of a culture of life, says cardinal
Cardinal Timothy Dolan has said that the story of a woman who left her newborn baby in a church crib is a sign of America’s culture of life.
The cardinal made the remark during his homily at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington for the National Prayer Vigil for Life.
Calling it “a sad but gripping tale”, he said: “No one knew where the baby had come from, or who left him there … until, a week later, the sobbing mother, a young Mexican woman, remaining anonymous, told her story to a journalist.”
Cardinal Dolan, who is chairman of the American bishops’ pro-life committee, recounted the mother’s words, noting the irony that the woman had left her baby at Holy Child Jesus Church: “I was so afraid, and, all alone in the house, suddenly went into labour.”
Once the baby was born, he said, she thought “right away” of her church as “the priests and people are so good. I just knew if I left him in God’s hands, my baby would be OK.”
The cardinal said this was “exhibit A in our case for promoting the culture of life”. If the parish had been cold and unwelcoming, he said, she might have been led to Planned Parenthood.
Pope: the web is ‘gift from God’
The internet, text messages and social networks are “a gift from God”, Francis has said. The Pope made his comments in a message entitled “Communication and Mercy: A Fruitful Encounter, for the 50th World Day of Social Communications”, released last week.
The message came as Pope Francis welcomed Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, to the Vatican. A week earlier the Pope met Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google’s parent company Alphabet.
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