Students Sacrifice To March For Life

WASHINGTON — It's an arduous overnight bus trip from Knox-ville, Tenn., to the annual Jan. 22 March for Life in Washington, D.C.

“We always seem to hit snow in the Virginia mountains,” said Paul Dunn III, who serves as project manager for the Knox County chapter of Tennessee Right to Life.

But for the 50 or so pro-life activists in east Tennessee, the 36-hour round-trip event is one they would never miss.

“When you work in the pro-life movement, you sometimes think, ‘Why am I the only one?” he said. “But then you see people from Pennsylvania, New York, Missouri and Wisconsin, and you say, ‘Man this is great! There are a lot of pro-life people around the country.’“

And Dunn,41, said he's noticed something new developing in the past few marches.

“In the last two years there are a lot more young people,” he said.

Part of that youthful trend is Steve Palvisak, a student at the University of Florida. Several other students at his campus pro-life group go every year, so Palvisak realized it was time to get involved.

“I decided to come to see what all the hype is about,” Palvisak said. “Everyone always talks about the march as one of the most inspiring events they've had the opportunity to participate in.”

But coming up to Washington from Florida for cash-strapped college students remained a challenge. So they held a car-wash fund-raiser and were even awarded financial assistance from the student government, which Palvisak said was unexpected because of their pro-life views.

Palvisak said he's marching to awaken fellow Catholics to the issue of abortion when they make important decisions in the upcoming November presidential and congressional elections.

“The pro-life movement made the first big step in the right direction earlier this year with the partial-birth abortion ban passed by Congress,” Palvisak said. “The recent successes are thanks to many activists who, over the past 31 years, have devoted their efforts to exposing the lies that Americans have been told about abortion.”

Palvisak's home state of Florida plays host to a major battle for the open seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Bob Graham.

The pro-life agenda is focused on the U.S. Senate because Democrats have blocked votes on the appointment of several pro-life judges and are stalling on a vote for the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which would recognize two victims if a pregnant woman and her baby were assaulted or murdered.

“The situation has never been better for pro-life activists, but Catholic voters must remember the rights of the unborn when they go to the ballot box this November,” Palvisak said.

With so many young Catholics like Palvisak at the March for Life, organizations such as Youth for a Third Millennium have set up shop, eager to encourage young people to become missionaries of the Gospel.

“They're the future of the world,” said Tony MacDonnell, associate director for the Catholic youth apostolate. “It's important to spend time with them so they can share their faith — share their love — with the world.”

Many Catholic churches in the Washington area put up travelers in the days surrounding the March for Life. And Youth for a Third Millennium is there to preach the faith to young students coming into town — and to residents.

The group also established an Internet café in a hotel near Capitol Hill where students can check their e-mail and speak to priests on hand to answer questions about their faith.

And when Washington Cardinal Theodore McCarrick gave his annual youth address at the MCI Center in downtown Washington on the morning of the march, missionaries with Youth for a Third Millennium were there to help.

“We're simply responding to the Holy Father's call in Denver in ‘93 to go in the streets and preach the Gospel like the first apostles,” MacDonnell said.

Other Marches

Washington attracts the largest pro-life march on the anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade court decision, but it's not the only one. More than 7,000 people march on the state capitol grounds in St. Paul, Minn., including Darla Meyers from nearby Hudson, Wis.

She's witnessed a surge of involvement in the pro-life movement during the last three years.

“People of God are more willing to ‘come out of the closet’ with their pro-life views, where before, they may have stayed ‘in the closet’ because they had been personally attacked by the pro-abortion rhetoric,” she said.

“Now we are seeing and hearing from people who have just had enough of their own complacency, and through their own prayers, they are realizing that they can make a difference,” Meyers said.

There's another positive development that makes Meyers happy these days.

“Many years ago, I predicted that being pro-life would be ‘popular’ in my lifetime. I have already seen that prediction come true,” she said.

“The reason this is true is that God doesn't give up on his people, God doesn't throw us out and give up on us when we sin,” Meyers said.

Meyers also attributes the growing numbers of young people as a key to the pro-life movement's recent successes.

“I've also realized that our youth are naturally rebellious and question abortion in all forms,” she said. “The chances are very real that our youth are missing a sibling or two or three. And our youth are telling their parents, 'Stop the killing.’”

Joshua Mercer writes from Washington, D. C.