We Don’t Need Politicians to Know That Life Is Worth Living

I t is a “lazy slander” that the pro-life movement doesn’t care about babies after they are born. It’s a lie. It’s based on the inordinate public attention that is, necessarily, paid to abortion politics. Obviously, whether the abortion happens or not makes all the difference in the life of the unborn child and his or her mother. But what comes after also matters. It is why every January there is a March for Life in Washington, D.C. And while the media recaps of the event tend to be about the politicians who headline the rally before the march, these are, in some senses, the sideshow. Young people make the March for Life.

Ten years ago at the march, I was onstage and took a few pictures of what was in front of me. So many thousands of high school and college students. The photo from this year is similar. Different faces, same ages. Young people with their lives ahead of them, as we say, perhaps in the throes of pending decisions about college, about marriage, or, in this crowd, about a possible religious vocation.

One recent Catholic college graduate I talked with this year discussed what she would do if she was ever faced with an unplanned pregnancy, especially when she was back in school. What her father would do was her main concern; something about the safety of the young man involved. And while it sounds like the kind of joke a father would make to keep potential suitors in line, it wouldn’t be a joke to a scared pregnant kid. Part of the reason we continue to have a March for Life in January, marking the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision, even though the Court finally overturned it, is because of such young women and men. The March for Life is a national invitation: If you find yourself facing an unplanned pregnancy, you are not alone.

That’s why it continues to drive pro-lifers crazy that the media don’t pay much attention to the march. The coverage tends to focus on the presence of a president or vice president. But if you happen to be a regular attendee, you know how exceptionally encouraging the march itself is. It is precisely the joy of the youth that reenergizes the rest of us to keep trying to build a culture of life — that defends the defenseless but also makes human flourishing possible.

The other reason it is a scandal that the content and character of the march aren’t more widely known is that the march’s message is for people well beyond the National Mall, the Supreme Court, and the Capitol Building. Pro-lifers, representing themselves and their families and schools, churches, and other ministries — even secular groups — are seeking to communicate: You are not alone. Your life matters. Unborn life matters. Every life matters. During Covid, marchers held signs that said black lives matter. Every single life matters. It’s why so many of us are disturbed by an unnecessary death — whether it happens to a young person in a police altercation or to an elderly patient in a hospital. Each person has value, even if he or she might not be aware of it. That’s a big part of the annual March for Life: to let people know it matters that they exist.

The Golden Rule makes no sense if you don’t think that your life matters. The contradiction in a culture that is gradually legalizing assisted suicide while, at the same time, it tries to prevent depression from leading people to suicide should be an alarming wake-up call. What’s in the bloodstream at the March for Life is a solution: gratitude to our Creator for the gift of human life to each and every one of us, a celebration of that gift, and a reassurance to anyone who feels scared and unsure about pregnancy that there are neighbors who will walk with you. Most of us realize that sometimes life happens. The pro-life movement opposes and seeks to end abortion, but it does not judge how a family begins. We want to make sure that you and your family can pursue happiness, as this nation promises.

We will keep marching. To end abortion. To renew our commitment to life. To pledge again to leave no one alone to be pressured into abortion or to live with the pain of unnecessary death. The March for Life affirms that life is worth living. Let’s live it together.

This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.