March for Life Recap

March for Life Recap

Luke Nowak '26

This past weekend, a group of Priory students from the Respect Life Club along with Mr. Kelly and Fr. Athanasius went on a pilgrimage to Washington D.C. for the annual March for Life. The March for Life takes place every year in the middle of January. People from all over the US and other countries go up to our nation’s capital to march for the unborn children who don’t have a voice in society. 

During the rally before the march, a variety of speakers came to give talks. Among these were, former NFL coach Tony Dungy, Connecticut State Representative Trenee McGee, Attorney General Lyn Flitch, and Jonathan Roumie, the actor for Jesus in the TV show, “The Chosen.” It was incredible to see the variety of speakers who gave their testimonies and inspiring reasons for why they choose life. 

Two of the talks stood out to me a lot. One was Tony and Lauren Dungy’s talk. He related back to the incident with Damar Hamlin. When he went in for the tackle and his heart stopped, he was on the verge of death. Dungy brought up what the announcers were saying after he was rushed off the field, that all the crowd could do was pray. This was unlike anything seen in recent NFL history. Usually, when something like this happens, where the players start to pray, the cameras turn away. That did not happen that night. Instead, everyone on the Bills team got together to pray for their teammate Damar. Dungy relates this profound respect for the life of a loved one to why everyone was there at the march that day: to march for the unborn. We have to show the same respect we do for all other lives like Damar as we do for the lives of those in the womb. His wife then told the story of their family. They have eleven children, three biological and eight adopted. This shows the beauty of adoption and the beauty of their adopted mothers chosing life. Even though the mothers couldn’t care for their children, they still chose life.

The next talk that stood out to me was the one given by Jonathan Roumie. He relayed to us how playing the role of Jesus in The Chosen has given him much time to be with God in prayer. It gave him a chance to live out God’s will for him and to be more open to what God has planned for him in the future. He spoke about how society says we live in a “Post-Christian world,” and how we can reject that and strive to enter through the narrow gate. Swimming upstream may not be easy, but it is rewarding. We have to change our culture by impacting our culture. This starts with protecting life at all stages, especially the precious unborn. He gave a couple ways we can change our culture including praying the Rosary and exposing areas of darkness in our own lives and in our community.

This year, in particular, was a very important march. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the legality of abortion was turned back to the states. I am proud to say that Missouri was the first state in the US to nearly entirely ban abortion. With this monumental victory for Pro-Lifers, the March was very celebratory. 

Though we’ve had this significant victory, the battle has just begun. Now that the decision has turned back to the states, it is important now more than ever to convert people’s hearts one at a time. This was a phrase that I heard repeated so many times throughout the trip. It sounds small but it is profound. “God works on even the most stubborn hearts, and He uses us to bring conversion.” One heart at a time leads to one state at a time and we can soon end the decision that should have never been made in the first place. 

As I said before, this year’s March was one of celebration with Roe v. Wade being overturned. The number of people there reflected this. Tens of thousands of people from everywhere in the US and other countries such as Mexico and Canada came to fight for this one cause. Democrats and Republicans came together to speak out for the voiceless. Everyone put their political differences aside and came to march for the lives of the over 64 million who died because of abortion. No matter how many times you come to march, it is still astounding to see the overwhelming number of people. 

Out of all the flags and signs carried, one stuck out to me the most. It had a very simple but important message: “Love them Both.” It is important to remember that we have to be advocates for the lives of the mothers as well. We have to help them in every way we can and support them in all their needs. It reminded me of all the work that we do and all the support we give to the women. There are multiple charities and laws being passed to aid the brave mothers who have chosen life. 

As this was my first March for Life, I was so inspired and invigorated to defend the lives of the unborn and those who can’t speak out for themselves. We need more strong men to stand up and support mothers and their children, in and out of the womb. Like Jonathan Roumie said, we need people to change culture by impacting culture so we can have a culture of life, not one of killing innocent babies in the womb. If any of you are willing to step up, then find ways to support life in all its stages. You can do this here at Priory by joining the Respect Life Club. We need strong men to march on into a Post-Roe Generation.