By Cassidy Bugos
LISBON, Portugal, January 17, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The nation of Portugal is set to witness its first March for Life Sunday January 28.
The event, organized by the Portuguese Large Families Association, will take place in Lisbon. The 2 kilometer March will be a moving reflection on the 7 stages of life: conception, birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age, with various participating movements and associations preparing texts to be read at each stage. The March will conclude with speeches and the singing of the ‘Hymn to Life’ by various Portuguese artists.
Portugal’s March will occur less than a week after the January 22 US March for Life in Washington D.C. (For information see: https://www.marchforlife.org)
This event is essentially the ‘original’ March for Life.
Usually drawing well upwards of 100,000 participants from around North America, the Washington March is now in its 34th year. Although the March is a memorial of the tragedy of Roe v. Wade, the energy in the crowd is palpable: often one of the first things a new participant at the March reports being struck by is the sheer number of young marchers. A majority are obviously younger than the infamous 1973 Roe v. Wade decision they are there to commemorate. They have at least one reason to feel grateful to be there.
As with Portugal, in recent years other marches inspired by the US phenomenon have begun springing up worldwide. France will be hosting its 3rd annual March for Life in Paris January 21 to coincide with the US March. Delegations are expected from Spain, Belgium, Germany and Italy – and like the US March, the Paris March will be defined by large numbers of youth.
Canada also has an annual March, which this year will be held May 10 in Ottawa. Poland’s first March for Life wended its way through Warsaw last June.
Portugal’s March for Life, however, will be unique in one respect. While these other marches mourn their country’s legalization of abortion, the Portugal March is fueled by a will to resist impending legislation that would make abortion legal in that country for the first time.
Currently abortion is legal in Portugal only in ‘exceptional’ cases – when a pregnancy has resulted from rape or for the health of the mother. A national referendum that would make abortion available on demand through the 10th week of pregnancy is scheduled for a February 11 vote.
But the predominantly Catholic population is not likely to accept such measures. A poll published last Friday reported that nearly 44% of voters plan not to vote on the referendum at all.
More than half the nation’s registered voters are required to cast their vote in order to make the ballot’s results legally valid. Thus, pro-life citizens realize, abstaining from voting will be more damaging to the ballot than voting ‘no.’
The March for Life and similar initiatives throughout the country, organizers say, are meant to show the Portuguese government that the nation’s citizens intend to remain firmly on the side of the unborn.
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
Socialist Portugal Government to Introduce Abortion Vote January 2007
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06091803.html
Washington March for Life Becomes March of Youth
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06012403.html
Canadian March for Life 2006 – 5,700 Take Part – Goal Set for 10,000 Next Year
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/may/06051502.html
March for Life Fever Catching on in France
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jan/06012407.html
Poland Holds First March for Life and Family in Warsaw
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jun/06060705.html