Posted January 28, 2010

Even in a city that sees protests of varying sizes every year, the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., gives pause to office workers and daily commuters. It’s not every day that about 200,000 people descend upon our nation’s capital bearing slogans, banners and high spirits affirming human life. It’s once a year every year for the past 37.

One would think that would garner more news coverage than the inside “B” section of the Saturday Washington Post, the paper of record for the D.C. metro area that is adept at spotting trends in politics and society. A big factor in the dearth of coverage in broadcast news and other print publications, including those of the Philadelphia area, is that they see it as nothing new.

No, it is not new. What is significant is the size, character and motivation of the rally and march. Eyewitness accounts, including that of our own reporter, Lou Baldwin, put the pro-life contingent at a couple hundred thousand, which is a far cry from the “tens of thousands” cited in the few media accounts that covered the event.

Within those sizeable numbers was a cross section of ages, including many young families and especially teenagers and young adults. Every year their numbers within the ranks seem to grow. This reflects young people’s increasing rejection of the cultural imperative that elevates the rights of one person above the rights of another – in this case, of a mother above her unborn child.

The march represents more than a participation of a large and debated number of people every Jan. 22. It reflects a sea change that has been growing to the point at which now more Americans than not call themselves pro-life. Marchers of all ages, religions and political persuasions represented an even greater number of people who never made it to Washington. They share the belief that all human life is sacred, and the dignity of each person born or unborn up to the moment of natural death must not be violated.

This groundswell of awareness continues to grow, making it inevitable that Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion on demand in the United States, will eventually be overturned. What may be enacted in its place, and when, is a matter of speculation. But the will of the people that grows louder every year cannot be denied indefinitely.

Americans who share the belief in the sanctity of life are motivated by their assent to the spanine law of love. They are convinced that because we are all created by God we all share his gift of human dignity. Therefore life must not be violated by the dictates of an unjust law by the state.

Roe’s days are numbered because of the rising numbers of pro-life Americans, and the love they hold for all God’s children, the born and the unborn.