The March for Life makes its way up Constitution Avenue in this photo from 2020.The theme for the upcoming March for Life on January 21 will be “Equality Begins in the Womb,” event organizers have announced.
“The pro-life movement recognizes the immense responsibility this nation bears to restore equal rights to its most defenseless citizens in the womb,” March for Life president Jeanne Mancini said.
The 49th annual March for Life will be held on Friday, January 21, 2022, in Washington, D.C. According to organizers, it is the world’s largest annual human rights demonstration.
“Since Roe v. Wade, scientific advances have undeniably confirmed the humanity of the unborn, and today most Americans agree there should be significant limits on abortion,” Mancini said.
“To this end, we hope the Supreme Court honors the existing constitutional protections for the unborn as they heard arguments in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization,” she added, citing the major abortion case before the high court. Oral arguments in the case took place Dec. 1.
Equality, said Mancini, has been a hotly debated topic in the United States as of late.
“These discussions are crucial for America, for the health of our country,” said Manicini. “There’s little agreement on the definition of what ‘equality’ is and who it applies to.”
“We want to expand this rigorous debate about equality to unborn children, who are often overlooked because they cannot speak for themselves,” she added.
“Each of us is a human being, and we have inherent human dignity because of who we are in our essence,” said Mancini. And human beings, she added, “should be protected from the moment of conception or fertilization.”
Mancini said the Dobbs case at the Supreme Court has the potential to make a “major impact on the unborn and on equality.” The cases focus on Mississippi’s law restricting most abortions after 15 weeks. The question at hand is whether all pre-viability state abortion bans are unconstitutional.
“Our hope and our prayer is that this year’s theme, ‘Equality Begins in the Womb’ will allow not only for hearts and minds to be changed,” she said, “but that there will also be, included in this robust debate, the topic of the unborn child.”
The coming year, she said, has the potential to be “historic” for the pro-life cause.
“There’s so much ahead of us this year, and I think this will be a special March for Life,” she said.
The consistently large crowds of the March for Life are proof, explained Mancini, that abortion policy in the United States is anything but “settled law.”
“It shows them that it’s not settled law,” she said. “We don’t get smaller, we don’t draw less of a line in the sand, we get bigger every year.”
The rally preceding the 2022 march will feature speeches from actor Kirk Cameron and Father Mike Schmitz, a podcast host and priest of the Diocese of Duluth. The rally will also feature music from Grammy-nominated Matthew West.
The 2021 March for Life was held virtually due to the ongoing pandemic, with a small group of pro-life leaders walking through the streets of the city to lay roses outside the U.S. Supreme Court building. A small number of pro-life activists came to the city despite the march being officially closed to the public.
In the Diocese of Harrisburg, a number of parishes, schools and groups make the annual journey to Washington for the rally and march, lending their voices to the pro-life crowd of women, men, students, children, seminarians, clergy, religious and families from across the country.
The list of parishes that have submitted their information on buses they are planning to send to the March for Life on January 21 can be found at https://www.hbgdiocese.org/march-for-life-bus-information/. Please reach out to the contacts listed for each parish to find out more information about their bus, or to reserve your spot.
(Photo courtesy of Catholic News Agency.)
By Christine Rousselle, Catholic News Agency
