Tomorrow, January 22, thousands will gather in Washington, D.C. for the March for Life on the saddest of anniversaries, the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
In the 35 years since, we have lost over 47 million unborn children to the abortionist's scalpel or to chemical or ingestible abortifacients. The reality of pain for mothers and fathers is no less horrific.
The Rally at Noon at the Washington Mall will hear numerous speakers in defense of human life. Nellie Gray, the March for Life's founder, has presided over this event annually. President Bush traditionally speaks via remote to the gathered crowd. After the hour-long rally, the March down Constitution Avenue ends at the Supreme Court where participants gather and speak or pray for awhile. Some then visit Legislative offices to demand their representatives end the grave social injustice that is legalized abortion in America.
Were he alive, the Reverend (a title too easily dropped these days) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. would be with us, we have no doubt. His niece, Dr. Alveda King, is with us in this cause. She is a prominent pro-life spokesperson for the post-abortive group, Silent No More, after being twice post-abortive herself. Silent No More will be speaking near the steps at the Supreme Court later in the day.
The Rev. Dr. King's life and witness was informed by his faith. You heard and saw it in his every word and every action. This fact, too many would rather ignore. It does not fit easily with current secular notions of the power and place of moral witness in the public square. The Rev. Dr. King's courageous voice was an exception. Why?
The Rev. Dr. King spoke of the dignity of human life, no matter the color of one's skin. He marched non-violently for the full civil rights of disenfranchised Americans. That is what the March for Life does, too. Without a doubt, all march for the millions of Americans who have been targeted for death because of their "inconvenience" to another, and because of their vulnerability in the womb. Slavery was understood as an attack on human dignity. Abortion is slavery revisited, where human beings are again seen as property to be discarded, not persons to be welcomed. Today rights are denied not just because of the color of one's skin but because of one's inability to speak or defend oneself at the beginning stages of human development, or near its end.
Dr. King spoke passionately about the potential of every child. Would he not speak for pre-born children, especially in the African-American community who are targeted for abortion statistically higher than others? He would. Would he not march with us and rouse us to action on their behalf with his resonant religious cadence? He would. Perhaps those who now deny life in the womb, would not deny the Rev. Dr. King's plea for equal justice under the law. Perhaps he would help overturn Roe v. Wade or promote a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution.
Perhaps. After all, the King legacy is a legacy of hope.
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