Thousands Join New York March for Life to Protest Abortion

Pro-life activists young and old came from up and down New York State on Monday to the Capitol in Albany for the “March 4 Life New York” on the second anniversary of the Dobbs decision.

Started and organized each year by Pastor Joni and Jim Lupis, the march, which took place on a windy but sunny day, was at the heart of what many call the abortion capital of the nation. Yet the enthusiasm of the crowd, their explicit faith, and their characteristic creativity in life-affirming signs was not diminished.

The March began with a twist of irony. One of the areas on the large government plaza in Albany is dedicated to children of New York State. The Marchers gathered there to begin in prayer and with the reading of a plaque set up there by in 1998 by the Children’s Memorial Committee.

“When the gift of life was taken from you, so was a piece of our heart. Your death will not be in vain. Those of us remaining must cherish the children, and shield them from harm.”

The words were not written with the unborn specifically in mind, but rather for victims of other types of abuse and neglect. Yet we who know that abortion is the worst form of abuse and neglect stood there in the shadow of government buildings where some of the most extreme and cruel pro-abortion policies in the nation are enacted, and we claimed those words for the unborn of New York and America.

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We then marched over to another plaza in front of the legislative offices, and spent two solid hours of prayer, testimony and preaching.

I spoke to the crowd about the significance of this second anniversary of the Dobbs decision, reminding the marchers that the first duty of the pro-life movement after Dobbs is to understand Dobbs. The decision doesn’t tell us our work is done but rather that we can now work on a level playing field, without fear that the Courts are going to automatically strike down pro-life laws. I reminded them of victories in state after state where we have seen courts uphold pro-life legislation in the last two years.

I also pointed out the pro-abortion strategy of today: having lost a supposed “Constitutional right to abortion” from the federal Constitution, the abortion lobby now tries to impose the fake “right to abortion” on the state Constitutions.

New York is one of the states facing this, their ballot initiative having just been put back on the ballot last week after a lower state court had blocked it because the legislature had skipped steps in approving it.

Abortion advocates want these amendments because they fear a thorough debate on what abortion is and what it does. They want to invoke a Constitutional right so that people will be afraid to argue against it, and legislatures and lower Courts will be constrained from acting against it.

Other speakers struck similar notes and kept the crowd’s enthusiasm high. Lisa Washington, of LoveLife, shared how she was once a slave to the lies of the pro-abortion Left, but was awakened to the truth and happy now to be on the winning side.

Life Runners were present, and their leader Dr. Pat Castle encouraged the audience to be more involved in the movement than ever.

Pro-life leader Gerry Yeung spoke about the personhood of the unborn and warned that we must not allow compromise, but rather be unashamed of being called “extreme,” because the truth itself is extreme.

Present in the crowd was one of the adopted children of Joan Andrews Bell, one of the peaceful pro-life activists unjustly convicted and imprisoned by the Biden Administration. And many of the marchers proudly carried decades of experience, having founded pro-life groups in local communities throughout New York.

As I said to the crowd, being pro-life in New York (where I also grew up) means the wind is always in our face, not on our back. But that enables us to develop a particular pro-life strength, and a special determination to let our light shine in a very deep pro-abortion darkness. That light was shining brightly in Albany on Monday, and the marchers will keep it shining throughout this crucial year.

LifeNews.com Note:  Frank Pavone is the national director for Priests for Life.

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