On the weekend of January Saturday 27th I had the privilege of attending the March for Life. As someone who has lived in Texas most of her life, I was surprised to be hit by the cold temperatures of Washington DC. As we were waiting for the march I could not help but wonder if this march would be anything by the Women’s March earlier in the month. Don’t get me wrong. I am not going to bash on the Women’s March, but I will share my experience in the March for Life.
To someone who has never gone to the March for Life, you might think that the march is filled with crazy people. There were people who stood on each other’s shoulders to cheer. There were monks who were barefoot in freezing temperatures. Everyone talks to you. Everyone smiles at you. It becomes almost impossible to tell apart the people you’ve known from years and the people you met the day before. It is then, in the middle of the freezing temperatures, the crowded spaces, and the loud voices that you realize that the people in the March for Life are crazy. They are crazy in love with life, with God, with respect, with possibilities, with what can be, with making a change.
I really cannot tell you the atmosphere that the march created, but I will do my best to try to describe it. Imagine being surrounded by people who you have never seen before that love you. Crazy, right? There is no hate, no judgement, no apprehensions. People don’t want to hate you, they want to love you. I can honestly say that I felt safe around a bunch of strangers because of what they stood for. By standing up for life, people stand up for you. We believe that being born is not an accident. You are special for the simple reason of being conceived. No, they don’t hate women who get pregnant and do not want to keep their children, but they do realize that the “fetus” they carry within them has a separate DNA and so it is a separate body. We don’t just love your child. We love you too.
None of the speakers spoke of hate toward any group of people. It was a place where people from both genders, all races, and so many beliefs stood and walked for love and peace. Being pro-life is not only about wanting babies to be born. It is about respecting people for the simple reason of being people. It is about loving each other because Jesus decided to love us too. It is about loving the depressed, the outcasts, the babies, the unborn, the elderly. It is about giving hope and standing for the reality that we can all become great. We can all become something.
When we got into an Uber carpool, my friend and I encountered a pro-choice man. He expressed his opinions loudly about how he believes in women’s rights. He told us that just because we don’t believe abortion is correct, it doesn’t mean we should force our beliefs on others. “If you don’t like it, don’t do it”. My friend and I did not lecture him. We did not yell. We told him what we believed, but because we were uncomfortable and we stopped feeling safe, we changed the subject. However, before we did, he said, “surely there weren’t as many people in the March for Life as in the Women’s March. I went to that, and it was impressive”. I don’t know how many people were in the March for Life or how it compares to the Women’s March. However, I can honestly say that the amount of love in the March for Life was above and beyond anything I have ever felt. It was as if being surrounded by a million possible best friends.
For those who are skeptical about the pro-life movement and think the same as the man in the car, or for those who stand for the pro-life movement, but don’t know how to defend it, know this: We are just a bunch of people who are crazy in love. Yes, we respect women and their rights. However, we don’t just care about women, we also care about men. Another difference is that we don’t wait for them to reach a certain age before we love them. If it is about women being empowered, they should have their babies. Having a life does not mean that their life will end. A life is so much more valuable than comfort. Nine months is a small price to pay for giving someone the possibility of falling in love, of smiling, of laughing, of becoming the best version they could become. Being able to birth a child is not a curse. It is a super power. Men can’t do it. Since it is something unique to women, what else can make you fulfil your purpose more than bearing a child. Be a super heroine. Don’t be afraid. We love you. That’s all pro-life is. We are just pro-love.
