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| DFLA banner at the 2006 March for Life, courtesy of Democrats for Life of America. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Ashley Baldwin
The following comes from a Jan. 18 posting by Ashley Baldwin on the blogsite of Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust.
I stopped going to the March for Life.
That probably sounds shocking, coming from a young woman who has dedicated her life to abolishing abortion.
I just can’t do it.
Every year when I see the hundreds of thousands of pro-life people attending the March for Life in D.C., and the Walk for Life in San Francisco, I wonder where they are the rest of the year. Don’t get me wrong — I am thankful for the dedicated individuals who travel from all over the country, and even the world, to stand in solidarity with the billions of preborn children who have been brutally and undeservingly murdered. They march for hours, protest in front of abortion clinics, listen to women and men share testimonies, lay down on soaking wet pavement during a memorial die-in, and debate pro-abortion supporters who surround the stage at the end of the March.
But what happens after it’s over?
Where are my brothers and sisters who linked arms with me just weeks prior while marching down Market Street in San Francisco? Where are the hundreds of thousands of young people with their pro-life t-shirts and bumper stickers?
I see so many parallels between the Civil Rights Movement and the Pro-life Movement. We too dream “… that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.” That children won’t be discriminated against based on their location, degree of dependency, or whether they are “wanted” or not.
Unlike the Civil Rights Movement, we lack urgency.
Activists in the Civil Rights Movement fought passionately against racism. They were hosed, beaten, jailed, kicked out of school, lost their jobs, did sit-ins, whatever the cost — they risked it. Why? Because they were determined. They couldn’t wait to rid this country of racism and the very disease of hatred and ignorance that was keeping us from progressing as a nation.
Abortion has been decriminalized for over 40 years now. For 40 years, women have suffered at the hands of abortionists and dangerous rhetoric has robbed them of the gift of motherhood, leaving them empty. 40 years of children who have been ruthlessly burned alive, dissected, and tortured inside of their mother’s womb.
Don’t get me wrong: We have made progress in the Pro-life Movement. We have seen countless victories, as Personhood Amendments have passed, pro-life candidates and presidents have been voted into office, men and women have banded together to block women from entering abortion clinics, undercover investigations have exposed Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry, and now abortion clinics are being closed faster than ever before. We know we are winning this fight, but we need urgency . We need men and women like Martin Luther King Jr, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Susan B. Anthony, Frederick Douglas, Sophie Scholl, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the great apostle Paul.
We need men and women who will fight, be willing to sacrifice it all — not just show up at the March for Life and then go home to do . . . nothing . The March for Life should not just be a family reunion, it should be the day we commemorate the families destroyed by abortion, a day to rededicate our resolve to abolishing abortion in our lifetime.
Resolve with us! Go to the March or the Walk, but don’t stop there. Resolve to dedicate yourself with passion for this fight. What can you do today, this week, this month to end abortion? Need some ideas? We’d be happy to give you some!
Hebrews 12:1-3 “And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith . . . Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”
May we not lose heart, but instead be filled with His passion!
