And we are watching the crowd moving up Constitution here at the 40th annual March for Life.
From Washington, D.C., I'm Doug Hecht here at EWTN Central with our EWTN chaplain,
my cohort, Father Joseph Mary Wolf, along with Michelle Johnson, who's handling our social media desk.
And also we've got Jim and Joy Pinto from At Home with Jim and Joy.
enjoy our radio program as well, giving us insights into the march from an international
and a family perspective on the ground. We have Theresa Thomas.
and also Damon Owens covering everything for us as things progress.
And we've been trying to pick out some banners as we go along and note who's there,
and we're trying to line up some more interviews with some of the marchers
who give an opportunity to say hello to the folks back home.
And, Father, you've got a couple of quotes that you had picked out in preparation for today.
Yes, another one from Martin Luther King jr. On his memorial, which is there at the National Mall
He said injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere
and
We see a certain coarsening in the United States toward human life
With all of the violence and the talk of gun control and so on this is coarsening
About the value and dignity of human life and how true that is
What dr. King said injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere, and that's what we see in these 40 years
The world versus wave decision that there's been this lessening this coarsening toward human life
Right definitely and that and that's what happens
We've seen that in everything in the aspect of the culture the more one is
Exposed to these things in a negative way like that the more it coarsens itself and people
You know ultimately don't see it as bad as what it really is
Speaking of banners. I did see one. I see something says pro lifeguards. Is that what it says?
Couldn't quite read the rest of it. It's very Catholic high school. I think you also notice wasn't John Carroll High School though
I think it was
One from Florida, although there is one right here in Birmingham.
We have one here as well in Birmingham.
I know a group of them went up to the march as well.
Right, they always go up there, and again, a sea of banners, of people, all different
colors.
St. Joseph's Seminary, Diocese of New York, that's done woody, known by many, many people.
That's where our good friend Father Benedict would teach.
We go out to the march again, and Teresa has someone for us.
And I certainly dug in to women who really know all about this whole situation with abortion
because the number of 40 years, it means an awful lot to them.
To my right is Mary Kaminski and she works very closely with Janet Marana here in the
States with the Sound No More Awareness Campaign.
To my left is Angelina Streinstaugh and she's from Canada with the Sound No More Awareness
Campaign.
And you have a very, fairly successful March for Life in Canada.
Why did you feel necessary to come here in Canada?
I came here to commemorate the death of my first child, Sarah Elizabeth.
She died through surgical abortion in Buffalo, New York in 1972.
So this 40 years really means something in terms of that number, obviously.
Absolutely.
If I could say anything to the world, really, is that I regret my abortion.
We're glad you're here, and thank you for the work that you do.
God bless you.
And Mary, you and I have done a number of interviews, of course, for Catholic View for
Women.
You work now on a college campus.
This is very significant for you as well.
It's also 40 years from me as well, August 19th.
And if something that I had to say to all women is that abortion hurts women so deeply
that you really will never get over it completely, you can go through healing, you can you know
reconcile a lot of things with yourself and your family, but it's always there
because it's a child. How important is it to have the women and the men who've
been touched by abortion speaking up? At the end of this March there'll be the
rally and I know 60 testimonies are going to be given. Men, women, married
couples. What significance does that have in terms of the message? Well it's a lot
of significance because we're told a lot of lies that we're trying to
that this is not true. We also want to reach out to the men and women that there is hope
and there is healing and there is life after abortion. Abortion does not define us as women.
You ladies are among my heroes, the ladies and the men of the silent and more awareness movement, it's incredible. Doug, back to you.
Thank you so much Teresa, Father, just before we go out to Damon, a couple of the banners
you picked up on.
We saw the seminarians for life, St. Angela Marici Parish and St. Andrews.
Okay, so keep marching and maybe we'll get to mention your name.
Shin, as you can see the crowd of humanity, we go back to Teresa.
There's someone that you know very well, she's been a guest on your show on Bookmark many
times, Dr. Monica Miller, she's a theologian, she is an author, of course she's been on
your show as you know, author of several books, including a new book called Abandoned, the
Untold Story of the Abortion Wars, but what I love so much about Monica is that she's
been there in so many places where I don't think many of us have.
us could really have the stamina to go and as Monica says she really literally has been
at the pit of hell in terms of the work that she's done to recover the bodies of unborn
children behind abortion mills and Monica when you started that work did you think that
we would be having a 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade?
I hate to say it, Teresa, but yes.
I think that the...
Spiritual and cultural damage that's been done by legalized abortion is so
enormous. We're going to be in this fight for a while yet, but that
should not discourage us, because I'm fond of saying it doesn't, it really
doesn't matter. It is our duty to stand up and be a voice for the unborn who have
no one to defend them.
It's incumbent that we just be there, no matter what the setbacks, no matter what the challenges,
no matter what the sacrifices, no matter what the losses are mistakes that we make.
We just have to, this is God's cause, and as I say, it's our duty, no matter what happens,
no matter if we make no progress, we have to continue the fight to liberate and free
the unborn and all those who are on the edges of our society who are threatened by the diminishment
of the sanctity of human life.
One of the things I wanted to ask you about is the connection to the life issues, that
it's the core issue that affects everything else.
In the prayer I had this morning and I talked about it on the air with Damon and Doug when
he first went on and I said, Lord, I really hope that the people who think it's just one
issue among many issues or there's other issues more important, yes, I'm pro-life, but if
they could really just submit ...
It's a single issue, you should be concerned about other things.
Well, I want to say, okay, first, first, we're talking 55 million issues.
Every baby that's been ...
Murdered under the law under Roe versus Wade is already that's an issue
But then you're talking about infanticide. You're talking about embryonic stem cell research. You're talking about disrespect for the elderly
You're talking about the whole corrupted sexual ethic in this country that it STDs. Yeah, broken related
Each way of the abortion clinic is a, their sisters, abortion and a corrupt sexual ethic
are sisters.
They go together, they rise and fall together.
So even if Roe v. Wade was overturned now, right this second, we would still have to
attend to that other problem, to heal our sexual ethic and have respect for human sexuality,
then you will have respect for life.
Monica, thanks.
Always good to see you.
Stay warmed.
I love you too.
Keep up the great work.
Dr. Monica Miller from my home state of Michigan.
But she has been all over the country doing this type of work and her book really is the
untold story of the abortion wars and she's an amazing warrior and I think in some ways
I think a living saint, at least to me in the work that she does.
Doug, back to you.
Thank you so much Teresa and thanks to Monica Miller. She really has been on the forefront there