Pro-Life Is Prettier: Beauty in the Pro-Life Movement

"Like" the Patheos Catholic Page on Facebook to receive today's best commentary on Catholic issues. Images by Stephanie Richer Photography ; used with permission. Do I believe pro-life people are prettier than the pro-abortion crowd? Absolutely, I do.

They are prettier on the inside,which in turn radiates to the exterior. All one had to do to see my point was spend ten minutes observing the participants at this week's 39th Annual March for Life held in Washington D.C.

The pro-life marchers were seeping joy from every pore and exuding an unmistakable wholesomeness. That's because being pro-life is a wholesome and good thing. There is nothing good and wholesome about being pro-abortion. Abortion is ugly and so are its supporters.

Compare the attitudes and smiles of the pro-life youth with those of the 2 dozen pro-abortion counter protesters—angry snarls, taunting obscenities, and hateful frowns. Ugliness is the purest sense. They held signs declaring "Keep Abortion Safe, Legal, and Rare" and "My Body, My Choice," completely oblivious to the irony of their messages.

Why the word "rare"? If abortion is a good thing, why should it be a rare thing? Could it be, perhaps, because it's a bad thing—a very bad thing, the worst thing ever?

So, by their own admission these women acknowledge that abortion is not good yet continue to support it. "My Body, My Choice" signs leave me as equally dumbfounded because infants in the womb have bodies too. They are not incorporeal spirit beings that don't assume their human form until being born. *Poof* it's a baby ! No, human development does not work that way. A pre-born baby has a body and I am sure if you asked him or her, he or she would "choose" to be born.

Images by Stephanie Richer Photography ; used with permission. Let me clear, I'm not talking about the beauty of youth. The beauty I am referring to transcends age. Yes, there were a lot of attractive young people at the March for Life. The majority of attendants were high school and college-aged. However, there were huge numbers of adults there too. Priests and nuns of every age, parents, chaperones, school administrators, parish personnel—you name it. The passion that drove them to stand out in freezing rain for hours on end transformed their faces into an angelic beauty. These were the faces of people who knew they were supporting a just and noble cause. The March for Life was as much about ending abortion in our country as it was about celebrating life.

A person celebrating life is a beautiful being, indeed.

The counter protesters came out for a different reason. They were there because they felt like their "rights" were being attacked. Theirs was a defensive reaction which manifested itself in a desperate fear. They looked and behaved like angry, trapped animals with teeth bearing and spittle flying; hardly an example of wholesome beauty. Their faces betrayed the evil that is abortion. Abortion is hateful violence toward the most innocent of life and those who support abortion support hate, violence, and evil. They are inwardly ugly people; the inner-ugly distorted their outward appearances.

Even when the pro-abortion advocates were not taunting and yelling at the crowds they were less attractive than the pro-life marchers. Frankly, the women in the pro-abortion camp looked trashy. It comes from that lack of wholesomeness that I am speaking about. They did not look like wholesome girls a young man would take home to meet his parents.

I will never forget the one woman I met on Monday. She was there wearing an "I had an abortion" t-shirt. She said her abortion was 26 years ago and it was the best thing she'd ever done. Can you image living as long as she has and the only grand achievement she can claim for herself was having an abortion two and half decades ago? She even remembered she was 40 days gestation at the time she terminated her pregnancy. Someone who is unaffected by something does not remember those types of details. Despite her forced smile and false enthusiasm for abortion, it was plain to see her pain. That pain also has a way of physically altering our appearance as well.

While many of the pro-abortion supporters we saw looked angry, they also look deeply hurt. This hurt clouds the eyes and deepens the frown. It is a hollow look that is the complete opposite of glowing joy and beauty.

So yes, pro-life people are prettier.