March For Life: The Inside Scoop

An estimated 600,000 people, mostly youth, descended on Washington, D. C. this past Thursday, January 22nd for the 42nd annual March for Life. I was fortunate to be among them.

I traveled with a group of people who are members of Nebraskans United for Life, led by pro-life warrior and executive director, Ann Marie Bowen. Ann has been fighting pro-life battles for 40+ years herself, even before the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion in 1973. She is an amazing person, and I learned much from her during the trip about the history of pro-life efforts in Nebraska and across the nation.

Leaving Omaha by air on Wednesday, January 21st, we were already surrounded by pro-life activists when the 36 students from the Creighton University Students for Life group joined our flight.

Megan Kangiser, a Creighton senior from Colorado, told me that this was her first time attending the national March for Life. She was excited to share that this group of 36 was “the biggest group ever to go from Creighton!”

Another member of the group, Alex VanAckeren, a sophomore Marketing major from Lincoln, who first attended one of the marches when he was a senior at Pius X High School, said he was “super excited to go back a second time.” VanAckeren said that it is “incredible how many people march, but it is also incredible how many don’t know about the March for Life.”

Elizabeth Abbott, Coordinator of the Respect Life Apostolate for the Archdiocese of Omaha, reported that there were 324 young people and sponsors from the Archdiocese who traveled by bus to the March for Life.

Their itinerary included a large youth rally held at the Verizon Center in Washington, Mass at the Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and a stop to pray at LeRoy Carhart’s late term abortion facility in Germantown, Maryland on the way back to Nebraska on Saturday.

Carhart is the Nebraska abortionist who not only performs abortions at his clinic in Bellevue, but also regularly travels to Germantown, Maryland to perform late-term abortions there.

In 2010, Nebraska was the first state to pass a “Fetal Pain Law” prohibiting abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy, thus effectively limiting Carhart’s ability to abort babies who are capable of pain and, in many instances, also capable of surviving outside of the womb.

Unfortunately, while we were in D.C. for the March, we also witnessed the capitulation of several Republican Party Congresswomen, Renee Ellmers of North Carolina and Jackie Walorski of Indiana, to the pro-abortion lobby when they dropped their sponsorship of the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. Yet, both women had spoken out in favor of the exact same legislation two years ago.

Our group from Nebraskans United for Life met with aides from the offices of Senators Ben Sasse and Deb Fischer, and an aide representing Brad Ashford to express our pro-life concerns and to ask questions about the fetal pain bill, Obamacare, and stopping the taxpayer funding of abortions and abortion providers like Planned Parenthood.

We were especially delighted when Congressman Adrian Smith of Nebraska’s Third District personally met with us after the March for Life. He and two of his aides greeted us outside of the Supreme Court building, which is the end point for the March, and he offered to escort us into the Capitol Building and give us a guided tour onto the floor of the House of Representatives. We were eager to accompany him and appreciative that he was willing to give of his time to show us around and answer our questions.

Before departing for Omaha on Friday, we went to Mass at the National Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception to worship Our Lord, receive His Precious Body and Blood in the Eucharist, and pray for an end to abortion.

Lord God, we trust in You. We pray for an end to the murder of the innocent babes in the womb. You, who chose to bring about our salvation by becoming Yourself an innocent babe in the womb. How grieved You must be by this horrendous evil! Oh Lord, always we ask You to come again to save us from ourselves! Come into every human heart that supports abortion. Come into every human heart hurting from participation in an abortion. Come into every human heart confused by the lies of the culture of death. Come into every human heart so much in need of Your truth and Your love. Come, Lord Jesus, come!