The Anchoress
NOTE: I’ll be adding to this post all day as I find new pieces, pictures, videos, etc, so keep checking back!
It seems especially poignant to me that as we learn more about the hundreds, if not thousands of live babies slain by Kermit Gosnell, and the pro-abortion mindset within government agencies which assisted in those killings by looking the other way, that thousands of people are peacefully marching in freezing-cold Washington D.C. for life, and to speak up for human dignity.
As usual, the Washington DC march is getting short shrift from the mainstream press. They will report, as they do every year, that “tens of thousands” people braved the frigid January temperatures in Washington, while the true numbers have been averaging 200,000 for years.
Don’t look for many wide-angle photos from the event. You’ll see close-cropped pictures of a few marchers, or some stragglers, and even more closely-cropped photos of the dozens of protesters, who will be given coverage equal to the marcher’s.
Last night in Washington the marchers attended a huge kick off mass which packed the beautiful Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, which graces the campus of the Catholic University of America. I was able to visit the gathering and learned that the University had opened its gymnasium and athletic buildings to marchers, who had sleeping bags filling every available space; after the mass, they slept on the basilica floors, too. His Eminence Daniel Cardinal DiNardo spoke at an earlier private mass and delivered a strong homily reminding the congregation of the one-ness of all in Christ. Rocco has it here
Saturday on the West Coast, 50,000 marched for life. They marched in Tulsa, too
Ronald Reagan on Abortion: it’s a lot more than 15 million babies aborted, now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WTiK9Dd9z0&feature=player_embedded#!
A Meditation on the mystery and beauty of the miracle of life
The pope on ecumenism and life
For the sickest of the sick, however, human life is nothing but “meat.” Fear for them and pray for them.
Ms. Lopez has pictures of the day.
William McGurn: Are Babies Better than Abortions?
UPDATE I: Michelle Malkin has a GREAT round up of her own! Check it out! She notes that President Obama’s “private family matters” remark did not include anything about Kermit Gosnell.
The Weekly Standard: A Youthful March for Life
Steven Greyadnus is liveblogging the march:
A Latino group is here with a large Guadalupe image on a litter. They’re shouting “Viva Cristo Rey!” and “Salve Regina!” Off to our right I can hear what sounds like the Neo-Catechumenal Way. Yep, that’s them. Right next to them are the Rabbis for Life.
Our homemade signs have been much admired and much photographed. Photos to come.
UPDATE II: Coverage from the WaPo’s On Faith Column
NRO Editors: Ho Hum Horror
Mark Hemingway: Why does the press only cover one side of the abortion debate? He notes that last year’s march got ZERO coverage from the NY Times:
“It’s the biggest non-event of the year!”
Nicholas Frankovitch: The Word, The Image, The Ultrasound
UPDATE III: Vermont “Assisted Suicide Bill” the usual Loophole Scam
First Things: An In-House Round-up
Tony Rossi: Looking at pro-lifers Patricia Heaton and Mother Agnes Mary Donovan
UPDATE IV: The NY Times: doing what it does best, serving the Culture of Death
(H/T Radio Patriot)
UPDATE V: Michelle Pirraglia on being a survivor of that Culture: her mother had MS, and was advised to abort her:
We should also remember that God Himself chose to come to us through the womb of a woman. Didn’t we just celebrate Christmas less than a month ago and recall this miracle? Just as we see Jesus in the poor, the sick, and the suffering, we also see Jesus in the unborn, since He, too, was unborn in the womb and went through the same process of development that we did. That is where Jesus’ life began, and that is where all human life begins. Those “clump of cells” are not going to grow to be a chicken or a cow—we know what they will be—they are just in the very early stages of human development. That does not make them less human.
How often have we heard the rally cry “My body, my choice” from supporters of abortion? While these women are saying, “This is my body, to do with what I want,” Jesus says, “This is my body which will be given up for you.” Think about that contrast.
Some reading appropriate to the day:
Kathryn Jean Lopez: Abortion as a Tea Party Issue
Marcia Morrissey: The Insidious Blip of Abortion
David French: Abortion in Retreat
Inside Catholic on Kermit Gosnell: A Grisly Reminder of Obama’s Past
Msgr. Charles Pope: MLK and the Pro-Life March
David Mills: Culture Precedes Apologetics
Leticia Velasquez: Abort them but don’t call them names?
Meg Riley: The God of Pregnant Women
Liberty Pundits
Fathers of the Church: Legacy of Life and a Culture Exposed
Gosnell; Baby Feet Kick the Nation and Why are We So Shocked, NOW?
Heather King: The Dangerous Idea
Videos from the West Coast March – the second video gives you a sense of the size of it.
Joy McCann: How to Kill Women and Children for Money
Flight into Egypt: Kermit Gosnell and the Tea Party
Deacon’s Bench: You are on a Pilgrimage, Like Mary!
Young people: lauded for their pro-life sensibilities
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