Co-authored with Johanna Dasteel
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, January 25, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Pro-life activists who arrived early for the Walk for Life West Coast descended upon St. Mary's Cathedral and St. Dominic's Church in San Francisco on Friday night for a time of prayer and a meeting of the minds of pro-life leaders.
Approximately 15 speakers represented much of the pro-life spectrum at the first ever West Coast Law of Life Summit. Students for Life of America National Director of Field Operations Brendan O'Morchoe told approximately 50 attendees about a recent audit his organization conducted of Planned Parenthood's student groups. While Planned Parenthood claims it has “more than 200 campus groups,” O'Morchoe said the audit found “they have no more than half of that.”
“We are outnumbering them eight to one on the college campuses,” he added.
Speaking about China's “One Child Policy,” famed human rights activist Reggie Littlejohn, Founder and President of Women's Rights Without Frontiers, said alleged easing of that policy announced in late 2013 and enacted in 2014 is “disinformation.”
“Every few years, China's Communist Party adjusts the One Child Policy. So the most recent adjustment is…if the couple has one member who is an only child, that couple can have two children,” said Littlejohn. “Then the media writes headlines saying, 'China eases the One Child Policy.'”
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“In fact what they have not given up on is the core of the policy. And the core of the policy is not how many kids the government says you can have, but the fact that they are telling people how many kids they can have, and they are enforcing that limit with coercion. Forced abortion, forced sterilization.”
Littlejohn, who led international efforts to ensure the freedom of Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, also noted that “a woman recently died in a forced sterilization operation.”
At the YOU conference earlier in the day, approximately 130 high school students and chaperones laughed and learned as the Sisters of Life and Charismatic Friars of the Renewal shared personal testimonies and spoke about how being pro-life includes practicing moral virtue. Students were educated on chastity, dating, and trust in God.
One Sister spoke of a woman who was at a Planned Parenthood clinic when she saw Sisters of Life literature. Immediately departing the clinic, the woman came to Sisters of Life and chose to have the child. “She had the baby, and three years later got married. It was beautiful,” said the sister. “She realized she had that choice before her, what was good and what was true, what was right and what was wrong.”
At the Walk's Vigil Mass at St. Dominic's, nearly 200 faithful heard from Auxiliary Bishop of San José Thomas Daly about how faith in God sustains the resolve of pro-life. “The soul that is in tune to God's presence is introduced to the beauty of the world,” he said. He also reminded the congregation that, because of God, David was able to accomplish great things even in his youth, such as his defeat of Goliath. He said this should serve as an example for the activists.
The Walk for Life took place Saturday at 1:30 Western Time, with a rally at 12:30. The 2013 Walk saw approximately 55,000 activists. The Walk was followed by a sidewalk counseling seminar, led by former Planned Parenthood clinic director turned pro-life activist Abby Johnson and Heather Gardner. On Sunday, Students for Life of America will hold its first West Coast conference.