Last week I mentioned some of the pro-life events that would be going on in Washington, DC, during the coming weekend and culminating today with the annual March for Life . I forgot to mention the West Coast Walk for Life (which was held over the weekend in San Francisco). You can view some pictures of that event—”the face of the pro-life movement”— here . The photos come with this description: “Not exactly the ‘old men’ that supposedly are behind the anti-abortion movement.”
One of the weekend events that I did mention, the Students for Life of America Conference, was highlighted in yesterday’s Washington Post . I have friends who have organized this conference in the past, and I’ve attended a couple of times, and the Post’s report rings true. Here’s the end of the piece:
A common theme [of the conference] was the need to focus on the challenges of being a mother. . . . “In pro-choice circles, people tend to talk about abortion casually, like getting a manicure or an appendectomy. But it is a procedure that takes one life and leaves another one irreparably damaged,” said Cayce Utley, a speaker from Feminists for Life. “We can’t say we care about the baby and not care about the mom.”
Students from several colleges said they were involved in groups that help young mothers find housing, clothing and other necessities if they decide to bear a child. Male students, who made up about half the participants, spoke of the need for unmarried fathers to take responsibility.
“The first person a girl listens to is the father, so you have a big responsibility to help her. You can’t just ditch her,” said Tom Dougan, 20, an engineering student who was part of a five-bus caravan to Washington from Indiana.
Valentine, who is majoring in human life studies at a Catholic college in Ohio, said that every time he and his friends persuade a young woman not to have an abortion, they throw her a baby shower to make sure she and the newborn start out with the necessities.
He noted that the antiabortion movement is becoming predominantly youthful while the abortion rights movement is aging. “This conference shows that the youth are not the future of the pro-life movement,” he said. “We are the movement.”
[RTA: I expect it is the word “future” that should be in italics.]
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
