Young people taking up the cause for life

Last week I attended the 47th annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of thousands of people, many of them teenagers and 20-somethings, marched through our nation’s capital witnessing to their respect for life and asking our nation to respect life.

The Archdiocese of Mobile was well-represented at the March for Life. More than 580 people traveled to Washington using the transportation arranged by the Archdiocese. Others came in separate groups, especially college students. There were Catholics and non-Catholics as well.

At the same time, many participated in our local March for Life in downtown Mobile. Our young people were present there as well.

As I attended events with our young people, I was most impressed by them. They conducted themselves in an exemplary manner at the March and at other events. Our young people are wonderful! They give me great hope for the future.

They especially give me hope that one day our country will respect life. When the US Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973 it was anticipated by many that the abortion controversy would soon vanish since abortion had become the law of the land. The controversy has not vanished and, as thousands of young people showed in Washington last week, younger people are taking up the cause for life.

This should not surprise us. This young generation is the most well educated in American history.

They are not swayed by the abortion lie that the baby in the womb is not a baby. Pro-abortion people speak of the “fetus” as if it were merely a blob of tissue or some sort of an appendage to the mother’s body. These young people recognize that is a lie. These young people have been educated in science classes and have seen the ultrasounds of babies in the womb. They see that the baby can move and respond.

One young lady said to me that we define death as being when the heart stops beating and brain waves cease. If that is how we define the end of life, she said, shouldn’t we logically define the beginning of life at least by the time that the heart starts beating and brain waves begin?

The heart starts beating by week three of pregnancy. The brain waves can be measured by week six.

It is impossible to say that a person who has a separate heartbeat, a separate brain, a separate DNA, is somehow not a person. The baby is an innocent life and we do not have the authority to kill an innocent life.

I would say that life begins at conception since there is nothing further that needs to be added or done for a human being to exist. Life has begun. The mother and father have brought about a new human life. However, I also found the young lady’s question a compelling observation into the absurdity of the pro-abortion stance.

The lie of abortion is a lie for anyone who chooses to see. Science makes clear the reality of the human life in the womb. We can choose to close our eyes but as there are none so blind as those who will not see.

Thank you to our young people for seeing that the lives of the preborn need to be protected and for joining in the March for Life.

Thank you to Mr. Ganucheau, the Archdiocesan Director for Youth and Young Adult Ministry for organizing the trip to DC from Mobile.

Thanks to the adult chaperones, priests and seminarians who went with our young people.

Special thanks, however, to our young people. I am convinced that because of you our nation will one day again respect life.