TEXAS, March 28, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Thirty-nine women have set out on an epic journey across Texas to bring awareness of the tragedy of abortion to Americans. Each women, representing one year of legalized abortion since Roe v Wade, set out on March 17 from the nation’s largest Planned Parenthood center, located in Houston, and will walk 250 miles back to where it all began, a courthouse in Dallas where the infamous 1973 abortion ruling was handed down that became the law of the land.
“They will leave everything behind to embark on this symbolic journey depicting America’s tragic path of abortion, taking a radical stand for life as they share their personal stories of how abortion has impacted each of their lives,” states the Back to Life movement on their website.
Laura Allred, founder of the Back to Life movement, told LifeSiteNews (LSN) that the plan for a pro-life march across Texas “dropped into her heart from God” a couple of years ago.
“I saw a void in the pro-life discussion of young minority women — which is the largest demographic the abortion industry is going after — and young women in general. In my heart was the desire to amplify their voice.”
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Over the course of 19 days, the 39 young women will travel the highways and byways of Texas walking with an attitude of what Laura described as “repentance and humility.” The women are driven by the same passion: to bring their nation back to a respect for life.
“They are fierce women,” said Laura. “They cannot be stopped, even with a few blisters and injuries, they are just amazing, amazing women.”
Samantha Baum, a pro-life mother of six who grew up in Texas but who now resides in Ontario, called the marching women “damn courageous,” not only for marching through the sometimes harsh and unpredictable Texan weather conditions, but for making a bold witness to life in a cultural climate that is often hostile to the pro-life message.
Baum, who has made the trip from Houston to Dallas by car, knows exactly what kind of conditions the girls will be facing. “It will be brutally hot. They could be facing hail storms and even tornados at this time of year,” she said to LSN.
“I admire them for putting themselves out there as a visible sign in the public’s eye to raise awareness about the issue of abortion and about the number of years it has been a destroyer of human life.”
Each of the 39 women carries her own personal story about how abortion has affected her life.
Carisma, 27, is an abortion survivor who is grateful for having been given a chance at life. She sees herself as “standing in the gap for her Hispanic community and for the Voiceless who deserve the right to live out their God-given Destiny.” She walks so that every unborn child will be given the same opportunity to live as was given to her.
A young woman by the name of Anna says she walks because she wants to see a “purity revolution” sweep the youth in America. As she walks she prays for her state, Washington, which legalized abortion by a voter referendum three years before Roe v Wade became law.
A woman named Summer walks to bring closure to a “traumatic abortion experience” that she suffered when she was just 16. “I remember feeling the pain of my baby being sucked from my womb, leaving me feeling shameful, guilty, and numb.” Healed through the power of God, Summer is now passionate about “finding hidden treasure in the lives of young women, and pulling that treasure forth through the power of God’s love.”
Elizabeth, 29, walks on behalf of her Latino brothers and sisters and prays that they will come to recognize the freedom that comes from God when one lives a life of grace and truth. Elizabeth struggled for seven years with the guilt and shame of her own abortion, but she now shares how she is “forgiven, healed and victorious” by Jesus Christ.
Melissa walks on behalf of the unborn. “I was scheduled to die but in one moment everything changed.” Melissa prays that America becomes deeply rooted once more in God and Christianity. (Find out more about each of the women walking here.)
Laura told LifeSiteNews that she “just really felt that from the beginning God hand picked from obscurity these young women with amazing stories to highlight the effects of abortion in our nation.”
The walk was organized to correspond with the current Christian observance of Lent and Easter.
“Good Friday is the day the girls will walk into Dallas and appear before the courthouse where the infamous abortion decision took place,” Laura said.
On April 6th, the 39 women will pray on the footsteps of the courthouse that God will forgive America for the innocent blood that has been shed through abortion in the past 39 years. An estimated 54 million babies have been aborted in the country since the procedure became legal. The marching women will be met by thousands of women from all over the nation who will all join together for a pro-life prayer rally.
“With one voice we are going to beckon heaven, just as Esther [in the Old Testament] did. With prayer and fasting, Esther appealed to the supreme court of heaven and it reversed the supreme court of Haman,” wrote Laura on her website.
“We are at such an Esther moment now,” she says, adding that the time has come to “pray for an undeserved mercy in America, the rescuing of our children and healing of women.”