California Catholic Daily
Dear Reader,
Our line-up for today includes:
Down Syndrome to be focus of San Diego Walk for Life: Those affected are disproportionately threatened by abortion
San Diego Walk for Life. (Denis Grasska/ The Southern Cross)
The upcoming San Diego Walk for Life will shine a
spotlight on a community that is disproportionately threatened by
abortion: those with Down syndrome.
Recent studies have shown that three-quarters of pregnant
women in the United States and more than 90 percent of their
counterparts in some European countries will choose abortion if prenatal
testing suggests that their unborn child will have Down syndrome.
“This year, we are honoring and embracing all who have
Down syndrome,” said San Diego Walk for Life
Coordinator Evangely Aliangan Ward, who noted that this year’s theme was
proposed by Kent Peters, who retired last summer as director of the
diocesan Office for Social Ministry.
Now in its seventh year, the walk will be held on
Saturday, Jan. 19, in Balboa Park. It will run from 8:30 a.m.-noon and
will include a line-up of inspiring speakers and feature around 50
exhibitor booths representing a wide assortment of pro-life, pro-family
and religious organizations. Participants, many of them carrying signs
and banners, will also walk a one-mile route beginning at the corner of
Sixth Avenue and Laurel Street.
Both Bishop Robert W. McElroy and Auxiliary Bishop John P. Dolan are expected to attend.
Organizers hope to send the message that “all life is
precious” and to combat the notion that a diagnosis of Down syndrome is
something to be feared, said Aliangan Ward, who knows parents who have
felt pressured to abort after receiving a prenatal diagnosis of Down
syndrome and none who later regretted choosing life.
“They’re great human beings … and they’re a blessing, too,” she said of those with Down syndrome.
And that will be on full display during the upcoming Walk for Life.
This year’s speaking line-up will be composed almost
entirely of individuals with Down syndrome and their relatives,
said Aliangan Ward.
In addition to the typical assortment of pregnancy care
centers, adoption agencies, pro-life ministries, and Catholic
apologetics and media organizations, this year’s exhibitors are also
expected to include organizations with some connection to Down syndrome.
Full story at The Southern Cross.
