A crowd of thousands gathered for the March for Life on Jan. 27.

By Marissa Gamache

The March for Life is a pro-life march that focuses on anti-abortion laws and being a voice for the unborn. On January 27 a crowd of hundreds of thousands gathered in front of the Washington Monument and rallied before marching on the Capitol. This year’s march marked the 43rd year the march has taken place. Junior Sterling Harer was attending a student leadership conference in Washington DC and was able to partake in the March for life.

“I really remember it being so crowded with hundreds of thousands of people all packed together. We wanted to see Vice President Mike Pence speak, but we could not get close enough to even see him on the large screens. We could hear him though, and the crowd was very enthusiastic. I think pro-life advocates are very excited right now because there’s a real chance of advancing pro-life policies in Washington. The people at the rally were very clearly Donald Trump supporters. There were many flags for him there and people were chanting “Donald.” I think they view him as the best chance at implementing anti-abortion laws they have had for a long time. You could definitely tell people were very excited. I had the impression that it was the beginning of a new era in the pro-life movement.”

Another account of the march is documented by Senior Vika Arand, who was also at the march in DC while attending the same leadership conference.

“The March for Life left me with a sour taste in my mouth.  Maybe it was because the last thing we saw in the protest were large images of torn apart baby parts right next to drawings of Satan throwing babies into hells fires.  Even though there were warning signs for the images that were up ahead it was hard to ignore the building sized pictures as we walked by them.  My perception of this march is highly influenced by my life experience.  Throughout my life I have been in circles of those on the far right of this issue and those on the far left.  Therefore, walking through masses of Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants and many other denominations that I cannot begin to name, was a bit unsettling.  Although I am sure many of these people I walked by were devout Christians, this was the first time I had seen Christians get behind a cause so passionately.  Here was the church, from many large denominations, from all across the globe, from all types of backgrounds, coming to protest abortions, an agenda I couldn’t passionately get behind.  It was a strange day, walking through crowds of brothers and sisters, fearing saying anything that might provoke them to shame me for my middle stance, for my inability to protest with them.  Maybe the bad taste in my mouth wasn’t from the images after all.  Instead it was an understanding of what it felt like to be an outsider of the Church today.  My hope is that the church will be there for women, immigrants, Black, Native, and Mexican people like it was there for the March for Life.”