When last year’s March for Life was canceled on account of Covid, the disappointment on the campus of Ave Maria University was palpable. So, this year, as the date of the March approached, the students signed up in droves to participate. The interest far exceeded our expectations, growing our planned one-hundred-and-fifty sign-ups to two hundred.
As Vice President of the student group, Ave for Life, my fellow board members and I organized these sign-ups by students eager to show the nation and, most of all, the justices of the Supreme Court that young Americans want the scourge of abortion to end. After all, we have lost one-third of our generation to the long-bladed knives of the abortionists.
Last Wednesday, we boarded four buses for the long trek to our nation’s capital. Twenty-one hours later, tired but exhilarated, we arrived—just in time to celebrate the Vigil for Life at the Basilica of the National Shrine. Prayer is an essential part of pro-life work.
We were joyfully received and hosted by St. John the Beloved Parish and school in Arlington, VA. The men slept on the gym floor and the women in the cafeteria. Although the floors were hard and the bathrooms limited, it didn’t matter. This was a pilgrimage, not a vacation trip, and pilgrims don’t expect first-class accommodations. The community of St. John’s sacrificed for us to enable us to march for life, and in turn, we accepted these little sacrifices and offered them up for the unborn.
Friday was the day of the march, and it dawned, cold and clear. And when I say “cold,” I mean it was 10 degrees. That did not dampen our spirits in the least, however. We had all packed the warmest clothes that we owned. Most of us were wearing them all. We weren’t allowed to go inside most of the restaurants and hotels to warm up despite the freezing conditions because of the vaccine mandates. But despite this, even as our toes started to go numb, everyone was smiling as we headed towards the rally.
I think I speak for us all when I say that I was astounded at the turnout. There must have been well over 100,000 marchers present by the time we all assembled. It was the largest—and the friendliest— crowd I have ever been a part of. It was moving to think that we were all there for one purpose: to give voice to the voiceless.
We were united in our commitment to end the slaughter of the innocents that has gone on since 1973. Sixty-four million abortions have thinned the ranks of young Americans and blasted a gaping hole in our country’s life. We survivors must speak out against this continuing tragedy that has made us poor in so many ways.
Standing in front of the Supreme Court at the end of the march, we all prayed that this would be the last national March for Life in our nation’s capital. But we also realized that, even if Roe v. Wade is finally overturned in a few months, the battle will continue at the state level.
As long as one child’s life is sacrificed to abortion, my fellow students and I will continue to man the ramparts, standing up for those who cannot stand up for themselves.
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Chiara Mosher is the Editor of PRI Insider and a student at Ave Maria University in Ave Maria, Florida.
