SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., January 28, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) — Energized by President Donald J. Trump’s history-making appearance at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. on the previous day, thousands of pro-life supporters descended upon San Francisco, California for the 16th Annual Walk for Life.
Eva Muntean, co-founder of Walk for Life West Coast, kicked off the pre-march rally with an amazing story about a man named Michael who had lost three children to abortion.
“Michael heard about the walk in 2011 and he has walked with us every year since,” said Muntean. “He started by himself carrying a handmade Walk for Life sign as a way to come to terms with his own abortions.”
“Those around him probably wondered what he was doing, but each year he shared his experience, and more and more men decided to join him,” she said.
This year, about seventy men are with him.
“What makes this story unique?” asked Muntean. “All of this is happening in the California Prison System, where Michael is serving a life sentence.”
“The walks I am telling you about are happening in the prison yard,” she said. “This year, Michael has organized enough men to walk in four of the yards at Valley State Prison,” who would be joining in solidarity with the marchers on San Francisco’s Market Street.
Fr. Frank Pavone, founder of Priests for Life, emphasized the importance of political engagement.
“It’s an election year, and if God’s people vote pro-life, we could see one year from today, Planned Parenthood completely defunded,” declared Pavone. “We could see the Supreme Court solidly more pro-life,” Pavone continued, hinting at the possibility that Roe v. Wade could be overturned.
But this will occur only if we elect politicians “who know the difference between serving the public and killing the public.”
“In 2020, the momentum is on our side, and never has the political divide been wider,” Pavone noted.
Kathy Folan took to the stage to tell her inspiring story about how as a college student she chose adoption for her son conceived in rape.
“Giving birth to Nathan did not destroy my life as the abortion side would like you to think is the only [possible] outcome, but [instead] gave reason to a painful experience,” said Folan. “He is the beauty that came out of a very dark place.”
Then, to the great delight of the crowd, Nathan, now a successful businessman and pro-life advocate, joined his birth mom on stage.
To those who identify as “pro-life” but who think rape should be an exception to abortion restrictions, he said, “I want everyone to realize — especially the ‘excepters’ — that you’re talking about me, and everyone like me.”
“Life is life, no exceptions. Life is a gift, no exceptions. Life is precious, no exceptions,” he added.
Rally organizers had another surprise in store. At last year’s Walk for Life, seven very pregnant moms appeared on stage, each armed with a megaphone/bullhorn so the crowd could hear the heartbeats of their soon-to-be-born children.
Four of those moms returned to the Walk for Life rally and presented their kids to the captivated crowd. The other three mom-and-child pairs who couldn’t be present appeared in pictures on the Jumbotron.
In a somber moment, Eva Muntean noted that it would have been “perfectly legal” to kill those babies last year before they were born.
Wrapping up the rally, Rev. Clenard Howard Childress, Jr. declared, “Our time has come!” and “Abortion and Roe v. Wade’s days are numbered!”
Behind him a man held a sign: “Black lives matter in the womb, too.”