Pro-life supporters ‘freeze for best cause in the world’

WASHINGTON (Catholic News Service/Catholic News Agency)— The polar vortex couldn’t chill the ardor of thousands of participants who demonstrated their determination to continue speaking out against abortion at the annual March for Life and rally Jan. 22 in Washington.

Temperatures went briefly into double digits but hovered around 8 degrees.

At the rally, speakers highlighted the tenacious determination of the crowd — dressed in coats, scarves, hats and gloves — huddled together on the snow-covered National Mall. They likened the crowd’s bravery to the firm resolve they have shown in their efforts to change abortion laws and promote a culture of life in the United States.

The rally began at noon, prior to the crowd’s march to the U.S. Supreme Court to protest the court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion, and it had a different feel this year, not simply because of the cold but in the variety of speakers.

Catholics stand up for their unborn brothers and sisters “because the Son of God became one of them,” a priest said at a D.C. pro-life youth Mass ahead of the March for Life.

“God knows us before we were in the womb,” said Father Michael Paris. God “loves each baby in the womb and has a plan for their life, no matter how hard a situation they might come from.”

“We are not accidents, Amen!” the priest said in his homily to thousands of youth at a Jan. 22 Mass at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. The Mass, organized by the Archdiocese of Washington, followed an early morning pro-life rally.

The rally and Mass preceded the March for Life, which draws hundreds of thousands of pro-life advocates each year to mark the anniversary of the ‘73 Supreme Court decision.