Some 1,000 pro-life supporters, including many East Tennessee Catholics, joined together Jan. 27 at the Knoxville Convention Center for the 46th annual March for Life, which was organized by the Knox County chapter of Tennessee Right to Life (TRL).
Marchers, who filled the Convention Center’s 460-seat lecture hall and ground-floor area, heard updates on pro-life initiatives, including legislation and court cases. Speakers included Rep. Jeremy Faison, R-Cosby, TRL-Knox County chapter executive director Stacy Dunn, and Knoxville attorney Will Brewer, TRL legislative liaison.
Father Marcin Gładysz, associate pastor of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus who is leading monthly Masses in Polish for the Diocese of Knoxville’s Polish community, delivered the closing prayer for the March for Life program.
The speakers addressed pro-abortion initiatives across the country, including a new law in New York that greatly expands the ability of abortionists to end life. The New York law legalizes abortion for the entire 40 weeks of a woman’s pregnancy until the moment of full-term delivery. And Virginia’s governor said he would sign into law a bill that would allow newborns to be aborted, which abortion opponents are calling legal infanticide if the bill becomes law.
The Knoxville speakers also praised those gathered for their pro-life support and their work in making Tennessee a pro-life state that has some of the strongest pro-life laws in the country.
Following a brief program, those gathered marched through Fort Sanders past the Knoxville Center for Reproductive Health, one of two abortion facilities operating in Knoxville.
The march is held each year to commemorate the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in every state.
