Right to Life of Michigan affiliates took 16 buses with more than 800 travelers to the March for Life, and many more traveled on other trips or independently. Many other prolifers from Michigan also attended, including school trips.
Here more than 150 student leaders from across Michigan college campuses traveled down.
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| Students for Life of Michigan |
The March is important because prolifers are not given the attention they deserve. Media outlets routinely ignore prolife stories, and when they do cover them, the coverage is often begrudging or designed to minimize their message. Hollywood and academia do what they can to push a narrative supporting abortion.
Here's one specific example. The Women's March events received three times as much coverage as the March for Life, though the national March for Life in Washington, D.C., had a significantly larger crowd than the Washington, D.C., Women's March, and had the President of the United States as the keynote speaker. There was mention of Women's March events in other cities, but no mention of the Walk for Life West Coast, the Chicago March for Life, other regional prolife events, or the many, many local prolife events and Sanctity of Human Life Sunday events across the nation.
You almost have to go looking for the prolife movement to find it.
There is one group of people who see the March for Life every year without fail: residents and workers of Washington, D.C. They know all about the March, if only because of massive groups of people clogging the Metro lines and city traffic. They take notice every year, in a way that transcends seeing a picture on TV. They may not talk about it, they may not want to acknowledge it, but the March reaches its precise audience where it matters the most.
Thankfully the prolife movement has never relied on popular attention to massively grow our support base. The March for Life itself is a wonderful opportunity for those new to the movement to experience the prolife movement.
This year attendees heard from President Trump, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Pam Tebow, and many others. Speakers gave positive, confident outlooks on ending abortion in America, and caring for women and children in need; that's never been an either-or proposition for the prolife movement, though it's not the public perception you'll hear on most networks.
One other speaker in particular stood out, when her mom finally let her have a turn at the microphone. Abigail Beutler, 4, really had something she wanted to say: "thank you." That was all.
Her mom, Congresswoman Jamie Herrera Beutler, had just finished telling the crowd about how her and her husband, Dan, had to fight to save Abigail's life when she was in the womb. She had no kidneys, and doctors were ready to pull the plug on her, saying she had zero chance to survive, suggesting abortion to the Beutlers. Thankfully a simple procedure (though never tried before) was all that was needed for Abigail to live.
We'd love to share a news story featuring Rep. Herrera Buetler's story as told at the March for Life, but none exists that we could find. Pity. It was a bold statement of hope and the value of each life.
Thankfully her story has received coverage in the past (that minimizes her message), if you'd like to hear it for yourself.
