Why We March

Hundreds of thousands braved the weather for Friday’s March for Life, commemorating the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Some observers will no doubt dismiss the enthusiastic young marchers as products of privileged, religious homes and educations, who don’t know anything about the problems real women face, and whose parents have brainwashed them into going on the March. But the reality is quite different. Pro-life activists are not by any means all cut from the same cloth.

“I was in second or third grade and remember seeing … my mother’s blood, hearing the desperate cries, and grabbing the phone to call 911.” Melissa Pereira’s violently abusive father would lock her in the closet for hours. He often told her she should have been aborted, but she didn’t know what that meant until high school. She would go to sleep wondering if she’d ever wake up in the morning.

When she learned about abortion, she understood that “abortion is one of those instances where violence breeds violence.” She began to realize that her father’s violence often peaked when her mother was pregnant. Then she learned of the abortions her father had compelled her mother to have.